Effect of Several Drugs and Chemicals on Hepatic Glucuronide Formation in Newborn Rats.∗

1. These studies confirm the observations of Inscoe and Axelrod that 3,4 benzpyrene administration to newborn rats enhances hepatic glucuronide formation. 2. Administration of chlorcyclizine or chloroquine to rats in late pregnancy increased glucuronide formation by homogenates of neonatal rat liver. 3. In rats and humans, chloroquine crosses the placenta and in rats chloroquine is concentrated in maternal and fetal liver. Administration of chloroquine, in the doses used to suppress malaria, to women in late pregnancy was without effect on the duration and magnitude of the hyperbilirubinemia observed in their infants. Further studies of the mechanism of these drug effects and their possible application to man are indicated.