Abstract
Forty jaundiced Chinese newborn infants were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups. Twenty infants in the former group were given phenobarbitone 5 mg 8-hourly; those in the control group received no drug. BSP tests were performed in all infants on admission and repeated 24 hours afterwards. The percentage disappearance of the dye at designated intervals up to 135 minutes of each test before and after drug therapy was compared with that of the controls. Rate constants for the hepatic uptake phase (K1) and the biliary excretory phase (K2) in BSP removal were calculated from the plasma dye disappearance graph. Following phenobarbitone therapy, a significant increase in BSP clearance was observed, with increases in K1 and K2 values, suggesting the corresponding enhanced hepatic uptake and excretion of the dye. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that several mechanisms together are responsible for the phenobarbitone effect on the impaired liver function of newborn infants. It is suggested that the observed reduction of serum bilirubin levels with phenobarbitone therapy results both from enhanced uptake and from increased excretion of bilirubin by the liver.
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