The renal, cardiovascular and hemolytic actions in the rat of a toxic extract from the bile of the grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idellus).

Grass carp bile, sometimes eaten by Chinese people, has previously been shown to induce acute renal failure in man and to result in the death of experimental mice and rats. A toxic extract from the bile acid fraction of grass carp bile (LD50 109 mg/kg) was injected into pentobarbitone anesthetized rats and an increase in urinary excretion of water and salts was produced. The bile extract also caused a prompt fall in systemic arterial blood pressure and cardiac output. It was also found, in vitro, that the bile salts caused a potent hemolysis. The hypothesis that hemoglobin is released from hemolysed red blood corpuscles and might be responsible for the long term renal functional damage is considered. Another alternative hypothesis is that the hypotension induced by the bile toxin may result in renal underperfusion and thus make the kidney more susceptible to the nephrotoxic action of the grass carp bile.