Study of the long-term effects of selective biliary obstruction (SBO)

Selective biliary obstruction (SBO) is a model of partial cholestasis in the rat in which the bile duct draining the median lobe is ligated and transected; the remaining biliary tree remains intact. Other authors introduced this experimental model and studied morphological and biochemical modifications in the liver after 2 days from surgery. They suggest that an adaptation may occur. Choosing some markers of cholestasis and some other markers of various cytoplasmic organelles, we studied the long-term effects that occur in serum and in total liver homogenate of selectively obstructed rats as compared to controls. Alkaline phosphatase activity and bile acids content, which were significantly higher than controls in serum and in total liver homogenate of the median lobe after 2 and 8 days from SBO, returned to normal range values after 30 days. Cytochrome-oxidase and glucose-6-phosphatase activity in total homogenate of the SBO median lobe remains perfectly similar to the control values in time. Results, together with morphological observations, suggest that cholestasis is present immediately after operation, then decreases gradually and disappears finally. The obstructed median lobe seems to cope with cholestasis.