No Effect of Diltiazem on the Hepatic Clearance of Indocyanine Green in the Rats

In order to investigate the effect of the pretreatment with various doses of diltiazem (DTZ) on the pharmacokinetics of indocyanine green (ICG) at steady state, especially the hepatic blood clearance due to the change of hepatic blood flow, the following experiments were carried out with ICG, a hepatic function test marker, not metabolized in liver and only excreted in bile. The intravenous bolus injection ($3,780\mu\textrm{g}$/kg) and the constant-rate infusion ($10,100\mu\textrm{g}$/kg/hr) of ICG into the left femoral vein were made in order to check the steady-state plasma concentration ($C_{ss} of $10\mu\textrm{g}$/ml) of ICG at 20, 25 and 30 min. Following a 90-min washout period, the intravenous bolus injection (108, 430, 860 and $1,720\mu\textrm{g}$/kg) and the constant-rate infusion (108, 433, 866 and $1,730\mu\textrm{g}$/kg/hr) of DTZ into the right femoral vein were made and the achievement of the steady-state plasma levels ($C_{ss} of 50, 200, 400 and 800 ng/ml) of DTZ were conformed at 60, 70 and 80 min. During the steady state of DTZ, the intravenous bolus injection ($3,780\mu\textrm{g}$/kg) and the constant-rate infusion ($10,200\mu\textrm{g}$/kg/hr) of ICG into the left femoral vein were made and also the steady-state plasma concentration of ICG was checked at 20, 25 and 30 min. The plasma concentrations of DTZ and ICG were determined using a high performance liquid chromatographic technique. At the steady state, the hepatic blood clearance of ICG was obtained from the plasma concentration and blood-to-plasma concentration ratio ($R_B$) of ICG. The pretreatment with various doses of DTZ did not influence the plasma concentrations, $R_B$ and plasma free fraction ($f_p$) of ICG. So the hepatic blood clearance of ICG was independent of concentration of DTZ. The hepatic blood clearance of ICG could be affected by both hepatic bood flow and hepatic intrinsic clearance. But there was no change of the hepatic blood clearance of ICG between the control and the DTZ-pretreated rats in this study. So it may be suggested that DTZ does not influence hepatic blood flow.