METHOD OF SCREENING CANDIDATE COMPOUNDS FOR SUSCEPTIBILITY TO BILIARY EXCRETION

摘要

A method of screening a candidate compound for susceptibility to biliaryexcretion. The method includes the steps of providing a culture ofhepatocytes, the culture having at least one bile canaliculus; exposing acandidate compound to the culture; and determining an amount of candidatecompound in the at least one bile canaliculus, the amount of candidatecompound in the at least one bile canaliculus indicating the susceptibility ofthe candidate compound to biliary excretion. Optionally, the culture ofhepatocytes is a long-term culture in a sandwich configuration. The method isparticularly applicable to the screening of multiple candidate compounds in asingle effort.