Effect of acidosis on bilirubin deposition in rat brain

The effect of metabolic and respiratory acidosis on bilirubin and albumin entry into the brain was studied in 24 awake and unanesthetized rats. Hyperbilirubinemia was established by infusion of unconjugated bilirubin at a rate of 30 mg/kg/h for three hours. After two hours, metabolic acidosis was produced in eight rats by infusion of 0.5 N hydrochloric acid at a rate of 0.02 mL/g/h. This reduced the pH level to 7.03 +/- 0.01 (mean +/- SEM) with a normal value for PCO2. Respiratory acidosis was produced in another group of eight animals who breathed 20% CO2 in a balanced gas mixture for the last hour of the study period. This resulted in a reduction of pH to 7.04 +/- 0.01 with PCO2 of 100.4 +/- 2.3 mm Hg. A third group of eight rats served as controls and were given equal volumes of saline infusion. No increase in brain bilirubin or brain albumin was found in the group with metabolic acidosis, but in the group with respiratory acidosis both bilirubin and albumin concentrations in the brain increased significantly. No significant differences were found between the groups in serum total or apparent unbound bilirubin, albumin, or osmolality. The results indicate that a brief period of acidosis per se does not increase bilirubin entry into the brain, but hypercarbia does so by opening of the blood-brain barrier.