Photoaffinity labeling of plasma membrane subfractions from liver and of intact liver tissue with a photolabile bile salt derivative, the sodium salt of (7,7-azo-3 alpha,12 alpha-dihydroxy-5 beta-cholan-24-oyl)-2-aminoethanesulfonic acid, revealed that the hepatobiliary transport of bile salts is accomplished by transport systems different for sinusoidal uptake and canalicular secretion. Polypeptides with apparent Mr values 54,000 and 48,000 interact with bile salts at sinusoidal membrane, whereas a polypeptide with an apparent Mr of 100,000 is involved in bile salt secretion through the canalicular membrane. Photoaffinity labeling with photolabile derivatives of uncharged and cationic compounds provided evidence that the sinusoidal membrane polypeptides exhibit a broad binding specificity. Photoaffinity labeling studies and kinetic studies suggest that hepatic uptake of different amphipathic anions, uncharged compounds and even of cations is mediated by the sinusoidal transport systems which are involved in the uptake of bile salts. Relatively little is known about the specificity of the canalicular bile salt transport system. The fluorescent bile salt derivative, the sodium salt of (N-[7-(4-nitrobenzo-2-oxa-1,3-diazol)]-3 beta-amino-7 alpha, 12 alpha-dihydroxy-5 beta-cholan-24-oyl)-2-aminoethanesulfonic acid, is readily taken up into the hepatocytes of all acinar zones and may be used for the evaluation of the functional state of bile salt transport by fluorescence microscopy. Fluorescent microscopic studies with the fluorescent bile salt derivative showed that ascites hepatoma AS 30D cells do not have the ability to take up bile salts and demonstrated the absence of hepatobiliary bile salt transport in the solid Morris hepatoma 7777. Photoaffinity labeling studies revealed that in both tumor cell models, in hepatoma AS 30D and in Morris hepatoma 7777, the plasma membranes were devoid of the polypeptides having affinities to bile salts and amphipathic cations. A slight labeling of bile salt binding membrane polypeptides in plasma membranes from Morris hepatomas 9618A and TC 5123 opens the possibility to study transport in neoplastic hepatocytes.