Hepatic elimination of epidermal growth factor (EGF) via receptor-mediated endocytosis was studied by a multiple-indicator dilution method in the isolated perfused rat liver, in which cell polarity and spatial organization are maintained. In this method EGF was given with inulin, an extracellular reference, as a bolus into the portal vein, and dilution curves of both compounds in the hepatic vein effluent were analyzed. Analysis of the dilution curve for EGF, compared with that for somatostatin, which showed no specific binding to isolated liver plasma membranes, resulted as follows: (i) both extraction ratio and distribution volume of '2MI-labeled EGF decreased as the injected amount of unlabeled EGF increased; (ii) the ratio plot [In (inulin/EGF) versus time] ofthe dilution curve for EGF exhibited an upward straight line initially for a short period of time (-10 sec), whereas the ratio plot [In (inulin/somatostatin) versus time] of somatostatin gradually decreased. The multiple-indicator dilution method was used for other peptides also. Insulin and glucagon, known to have hepatocyte receptors, behaved similarly to EGF in shape of their ratio plots. Thus, analysis of dilution curves can reveal whether or not the cell surface has receptors for certain peptides. In addition, the dilution curves for EGF at various doses (tracer 30 jag) were analyzed simultaneously based on a kinetic model incorporating the perfusion rate, the association rate constant of EGF to surface receptors (kon), the dissociation rate constant of EGF from the EGF-receptor complex (ko)9 and the sequestration rate constant ofthe complex. The kinetic parameters [the dissociation constant (Kd = kl/k,) and the number of surface receptors] calculated by this analysis were comparable with reported values obtained by in vitro direct binding measurements at equilibrium using liver homogenates. We conclude that the multiple-indicator dilution method is a good tool for analyzing the dynamics of peptide hormones-cell-surface receptor interaction under a condition in which spatial architecture of the liver is maintained.Many peptide hormones in the circulating blood are eliminated by the liver. Above all, for hormones taken up via receptor-mediated endocytosis, the liver is a major homeostatic regulator in controlling the concentration of peptide hormones in circulating blood (1-3).The interaction between peptide hormones and their specific receptors has been analyzed principally by in vitro studies with isolated or cultured hepatocytes (4) and liver plasma membranes (5). These systems, however, neither maintain cell polarity nor include ligand delivery by the blood flow, thus creating difficulty when the physiological significance of the peptide-receptor interaction is being experimentally evaluated. Use of the liver-perfusion method may effectively resolve this problem, because cell polarity and spatial architecture between hepatocytes and the capillary bed are maintained in this system. However, determination of the microscopic kinetic constan...