Abstract
1. The sulphation of polyethyleneglycol 200 by the isolated perfused guinea pig liver is inhibited to about 60% by 10 mM C1O−3 in the plasma of the perfusate when the concentration of SO2-4 therein is 1.18 mM.
2. The inhibition is almost complete when the concentration of SO2-4 is about 0.1 mM, a level which can be achieved by using a modified Ringer-bicarbonate solution, devoid of sulphate, to prepare the perfusate.
3. Chlorate, presumably through its action on ATP-sulphurylase, may therefore be a useful inhibitor of sulphation in the isolated perfused liver when the activity of the sulphurylase is rate-limiting.
4. The rate of bile production in the presence of chlorate is no different from that in its absence showing that, in the time scale of the perfusion, chlorate is not a general liver poison.
5. When the synthesis of PAPS is not rate-limiting, as in the sulphation of oestrone metabolites by rat liver, chlorate has no effect on the rate of sulphation.