Multicompartment analysis of 14C-labelled coproporphyrin and uroporphyrin kinetics in human beings.

14C-labelled coproporphyrin I and III and uroporphyrin I were injected intravenously into healthy human subjects. Two experiments were performed with each porphyrin. Counting of blood, urine and faeces was made as a function of time. The coproporphyrin data were simulated by means of an analogy computer by using a four-compartment model with a delay pool. The physiological counterparts to the compartments were considered to be liver, blood and gut. From the blood radioactivity disappearance curve of uroporphyrin three exponential components could be worked out. The least square method was used for the solution of the plasma and urine radioactivity curves. A three-compartment model was constructed to illustrate the kinetics of uroporphyrin I. Coproporphyrin I and III behaved essentially similarly, whilst the kinetic behaviour of uroporphyrin I was completely different from that of coproporphyrins. A rapid hepatic uptake, preferential faecal excretion and a significant enterohepatic circulation were features of coproporphyrin kinetics. Over 70 per cent of the tracer activity of uroporphyrin I was found to accumulate to a rather large pool (volume 16--28 times the plasma volume) from where the back flow to plasma was rather slow. Practically all the uroporphyrin was excreted via urine.