Pre- and post-sinusoidal origin of hepatic exudate in anesthetized cats

In cats anesthetized with pentobarbital, hepatic venous pressure was increased to cause drops of exudate to appear on the surface of the liver. These drops were collected during steady-state infusions of small doses of ethanol and galactose when there was a large arteriovenous gradient across the liver. Comparison of the concentrations of these substances in arterial, portal, and hepatic venous blood and exudate showed that the exudate concentrations were slightly higher than the hepatic venous concentrations but markedly lower than arterial and portal blood concentrations. We conclude that the exudate cannot be entirely formed in the space of Mall (presinusoidal) but a substantial part is postsinusoidal in origin. If the exudate is a mixture of fluids equilibrated with inflowing and outflowing blood, then 75-80% of the exudate is postsinusoidal and 20-25% is presinusoidal in origin.