A new animal model with hyperbilirubinemia: the indigo snake

Diagnostic Clinical Pathology of Boas and Pythons

Hematology and biochemistry testing of boas and pythons is a valuable topic for practicing clinicians and researchers alike. This article reviews blood cell morphology (with accompanying images) and reviews the literature for hematologic and biochemical material clinically relevant to the families Boidae and Pythonidae.

Multiple origins of green coloration in frogs mediated by a novel biliverdin-binding serpin

Many vertebrates have distinctive blue-green bones and other tissues due to unusually high biliverdin concentrations-a phenomenon called chlorosis. Despite its prevalence, the biochemical basis, biology, and evolution of chlorosis are poorly understood. In this study, we show that the occurrence of high biliverdin in anurans (frogs and toads) has evolved multiple times during their evolutionary history, and relies on the same mechanism-the presence of a class of serpin family proteins that bind biliverdin. Using a diverse combination of techniques, we purified these serpins from several species of nonmodel treefrogs and developed a pipeline that allowed us to assemble their complete amino acid and nucleotide sequences. The described proteins, hereafter named biliverdin-binding serpins (BBS), have absorption spectra that mimic those of phytochromes and bacteriophytochromes. Our models showed that physiological concentration of BBSs fine-tune the color of the animals, providing the physiological basis for crypsis in green foliage even under near-infrared light. Additionally, we found that these BBSs are most similar to human glycoprotein alpha-1-antitrypsin, but with a remarkable functional diversification. Our results present molecular and functional evidence of recurrent evolution of chlorosis, describe a biliverdin-binding protein in vertebrates, and introduce a function for a member of the serpin superfamily, the largest and most ubiquitous group of protease inhibitors.

Therapeutic uses of animal biles in traditional Chinese medicine: An ethnopharmacological, biophysical chemical and medicinal review

Forty-four different animal biles obtained from both invertebrates and vertebrates (including human bile) have been used for centuries for a host of maladies in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) beginning with dog, ox and common carp biles approximately in the Zhou dynasty (c. 1046-256 BCE). Overall, different animal biles were prescribed principally for the treatment of liver, biliary, skin (including burns), gynecological and heart diseases, as well as diseases of the eyes, ears, nose, mouth and throat. We present an informed opinion of the clinical efficacy of the medicinal uses of the different animal biles based on their presently known principal chemical components which are mostly steroidal detergent-like molecules and the membrane lipids such as unesterified cholesterol and mixed phosphatidylcholines and sometimes sphingomyelin, as well as containing lipopigments derived from heme principally bilirubin glucuronides. All of the available information on the ethnopharmacological uses of biles in TCM were collated from the rich collection of ancient Chinese books on materia medica held in libraries in China and United States and the composition of various animal biles was based on rigorous separatory and advanced chemical identification techniques published since the mid-20^th century collected via library (Harvard’s Countway Library) and electronic searches (PubMed and Google Scholar). Our analysis of ethnomedical data and information on biliary chemistry shows that specific bile salts, as well as the common bile pigment bilirubin and its glucuronides plus the minor components of bile such as vitamins A, D, E, K, as well as melatonin (N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine) are salutary in improving liver function, dissolving gallstones, inhibiting bacterial and viral multiplication, promoting cardiac chronotropsim, as well as exhibiting anti-inflammatory, anti-pyretic, anti-oxidant, sedative, anti-convulsive, anti-allergic, anti-congestive, anti-diabetic and anti-spasmodic effects. Pig, wild boar and human biles diluted with alcohol were shown to form an artificial skin for burns and wounds one thousand years ago in the Tang dynasty (618-907 CE). Although various animal biles exhibit several generic effects in common, a number of biles appear to be advantageous for specific therapeutic indications. We attempt to understand these effects based on the pharmacology of individual components of bile as well as attempting to identify a variety of future research needs.

Bile pigments in gallbladder and freshly-secreted hepatic duct bile from fed and fasted rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss

1. Chromatographic analyses of bile pigments in rainbow trout reveal the presence of primarily unconjugated biliverdin (BV) and bilirubin (BR) glycosyl conjugates. Only trace amounts of unconjugated BR are present in hepatic duct (HD) bile: no beta-glucuronidase activity is detectable. 2. The per cent of BV and BR in HD and gallbladder biles is similar in fasted trout; however, the per cent of BV is significantly increased in HD bile from fed fish. 3. Fasting decreases the rate of choleresis but does not alter the excretory rate of endogenous BV or BR. 4. Erythrocyte life span is estimated to be approximately 500 days.

Reduction of biliverdin and placental transfer of bilirubin and biliverdin in the pregnant guinea pig

Biliverdin was reduced to bilirubin in pregnant and foetal guinea pigs, and the 100000 g supernatant from homogenates of foetal liver, placenta and maternal liver showed high biliverdin reductase activity. The placental transport of unconjugated bilirubin and biliverdin was compared by injecting unlabelled and radiolabelled pigments into the foetal or maternal circulation and analysing blood collected from the opposite side of the placenta. Injected bilirubin crossed the placenta from foetus to mother and vice versa, but injected biliverdin did not appear to cross without prior reduction to bilirubin. The guinea-pig placenta is apparently more permeable to bilirubin than biliverdin. Reduction of biliverdin to bilirubin in the foetus may, therefore, be essential for efficient elimination of haem catabolites from the foetus in placental mammals.

Hepatic Bilirubin-IX- α -Glycosyltransferase Activities in Animals Excreting Primarily Biliverdin into Bile

A wide variation was observed in hepatic bilirubin-IX-alpha uridine diphosphate (UDP) glucuronyl, glucosyl and xylosyl transferase activities among yellow rat snakes, pin fish, chickens, turkeys, sea turtles, alligators, nutria and rats. Lower hepatic enzyme activities were observed in fish, snakes, turtles, and avian species with intermediate enzyme activities present in the livers of nutria and alligators. Hepatic glycosyltransferase activities were greater in the biliverdin-excreting species which are known to excrete readily an exogenous bilirubin load. Hepatic enzyme activities and the biliary transport maxima of bilirubin-IX-alpha are closely correlated.

Hepatic Bile Pigment Excretion and Erythrocyte Turnover in Various Species

Endogenous bile pigment excretory rates have now been recorded in fifteen species, and the following review briefly compares the excretion per unit of body weight in animals of varying sizes, attempts to determine if any correlation exists between bile flow and endogenous pigment excretion and discusses bile pigment excretion in relation to mean erythrocyte survival time and metabolic rate. Graphs and one table illustrating pigment metabolism and erythrocyte replacement are presented. Differences between animals excreting primarily biliverdin as opposed to bilirubin are discussed, with special attention being given throughout the article to mammals and their individual differences. Accepted theory concludes that the rate of endogenous bile pigment excretion is primarily dependent upon hemoglobin catabolism. However, further studies will be necessary to clarify basic physiological mechanisms in order to substantiate any theory concerning the correlation of erythrocyte turnover with metabolic rates.