A technique is described for preparation in the guinea pig of an in situ, isolated, vascularized gall bladder that exhibits normal absorptive functions. Absorption of labeled bile pigments from the gall bladder was determined by the subsequent excretion of radioactivity in hepatic bile. Over a wide range of concentrations, unconjugated bilirubin-(14)C was well absorbed, whereas transfer of conj...

Crigler-Najjar (CN) disease is an inherited disorder of bilirubin metabolism. The disease is caused by a deficiency of the hepatic enzyme bilirubin UDP-glucuronosyltransferase (B-UGT). Patients with CN disease have high serum levels of the toxic compound, unconjugated bilirubin. The only defect in bilirubin metabolism of CN patients is the absence of B-UGT activity. The transplantation of cells...

Bilirubin is a heme metabolite generated by the concerted action of the enzymes heme oxygenase and biliverdin reductase. Although long considered a toxic byproduct of heme catabolism, recent preclinical, and clinical studies indicate the bilirubin exerts beneficial effects in the circulation. In the present study, we determined whether local administration of bilirubin attenuates neointima form...

DURING the last ten years considerable advances have been made in our knowledge of the metabolism of bilirubin and thus in our understanding of the basic defects underlying jaundice, particularly in the newborn and in some types of familial hyperbilirubinaemia. These advances are due mainly to the characterization of 'direct' bilirubin as an ester glucuronide of bilirubin. Many of the classical...

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has similar pathologic findings of alcoholic fatty liver but occurs in patients who drink little or no alcohol. Accumulation of excess fat in the liver is regarded as a clinical feature of insulin resistance and is known to be associated with metabolic syndrome components such as abdominal obesity, hypertension, type 2 diabetes and dyslipidemia. For this...

We studied the relationship between bilirubin concentrations in amniotic fluid and fetal blood in 68 non-hydropic rhesus d-alloimmunized anemic fetuses at first blood sampling. In these alloimmunized fetuses, the amniotic fluid/fetal blood ratio for bilirubin decreased from 0.09 at 28 weeks to 0.05 at 33 weeks. In normal fetuses, amniotic fluid/fetal blood ratios for bilirubin, and for albumin,...

Owing to the overlapping absorption bands of hemoglobin and bilirubin, spectrophotometric determination of plasma free hemoglobin has been plagued by the interference of bilirubin when the latter is present in significant concentrations. To resolve this problem, bilirubin oxidase from Myrothecium verrucaria has been used to remove bilirubin in icteric samples. The enzyme converts bilirubin to b...

The effects of rokitamycin (RKM), a macrolide antibiotic, on young rats with hyperbilirubinemia were investigated. RKM at a dose of 1,000 mg/kg was orally administered to 14-day-old rats with hereditary, non-hemolytic hyperbilirubinemia (homozygous Gunn rats, total plasma bilirubin concentration: about 7 mg/dl). Animals given 10 ml/kg of 0.5% carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) were used as control. ...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Bilirubin/albumin ratio (B/A) may provide a better estimate of free bilirubin than total serum bilirubin (TSB), thus improving identification of newborns at risk for bilirubin encephalopathy. The objective of the study was to identify thresholds and compare specificities of TSB and B/A in detecting patients with acute and posttreatment auditory and neurologic impairment...