title: Fluorescein and fluorescein glucuronide in plasma.
abstract: The evaluation of the blood-ocular barrier for fluorescein requires the measurement of free and unconjugated fluorescein in plasma. This study introduces a new and simple method for the determination of free fluorescein in plasma on the basis of determined total free plasma fluorescence and the free fraction of fluorescence. An excellent good correlation between differential spectrofluorophotometry and this new method is demonstrated. After intravenous administration of sodium fluorescein, the contribution of fluorescein glucuronide to total free plasma fluorescence was evaluated on basis of the areas under the plasma concentration/time curves for fluorescein and fluorescein glucuronide, respectively. After 1 h 8.2% of total free fluorescence in plasma was found to originate from fluorescein glucuronide and after 24 h 18.3% originated from this metabolite. It was concluded that although plasma fluorescein glucuronide measurements are important in the exact evaluation of the blood-ocular barrier, the contribution of fluorescein glucuronide to vitreous fluorescence after intravenous fluorescein administration seems to be of minor magnitude.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Arhus University Hospital, Denmark.
authors.forename: L L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Knudsen
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Olsen
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Nielsen-Kudsk
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001769:Blood / Q000378:metabolism; D001813:Blood-Retinal Barrier; D002463:Cell Membrane Permeability; D019793:Fluorescein; D005452:Fluoresceins / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D015590:Fluorophotometry; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000378:metabolism; D008875:Middle Aged
chemical_list: D005452:Fluoresceins; C041357:fluorescein glucuronide; D019793:Fluorescein