Clearance of Antipyrine-Dependence of Quantitative Liver Function

Abstract. The purpose of the present study was to assess tile influence of liver disease on the hepatic drug-metabolizing enzyme systems. The clearance of antipyrine was found to be significantly decreased in 13 patients with liver disease compared with 9 control patients (18.5 and 58.6 ml/min. respectively). Among the patients with liver disease, those with a severely reduced capacity for work had significantly lower clearance of antipyrine than non incapacitated patients (12.5 and 25.4 ml/min. respectively). The clearance of anti pyrine was significantly correlated with the galactose elimination capacity, the serum albumin and the prothrombin values. The results indicate that the drug-metabolizing capacity of the liver changes in parallel with the other metabolic functions, and the use of the clearance of antipyrine as a quantitative test of liver function is suggested.