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Urobilinogen
Urobilinogen is a yellow by-product of bilirubin reduction. It is formed in the intestines by the bacterial enzyme bilirubin reductase. About half of the urobilinogen formed is reabsorbed and taken up via the portal vein to the liver, enters circulation and is excreted by the kidney. Increased amounts of bilirubin are formed in hemolysis, which generates increased urobilinogen in the gut. In liver disease (such as hepatitis), the intrahepatic urobilinogen cycle is inhibited also increasing urobilinogen levels. Urobilinogen is converted to the yellow pigmented urobilin apparent in urine. The urobilinogen in the intestine is directly reduced to brownish colour stercobilin, which gives the feces their characteristic color. It can also be reduced to stercobilinogen, which can then be further oxidized to stercobilin. In biliary obstruction, below-normal amounts of conjugated bilirubin reach the intestine for conversion to urobilinogen. With limited urobilinogen available for reabsorpt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jaundice
Jaundice, also known as icterus, is a yellowish or, less frequently, greenish pigmentation of the skin and sclera due to high bilirubin levels. Jaundice in adults is typically a sign indicating the presence of underlying diseases involving abnormal heme metabolism, liver dysfunction, or biliary-tract obstruction. The prevalence of jaundice in adults is rare, while jaundice in babies is common, with an estimated 80% affected during their first week of life. The most commonly associated symptoms of jaundice are itchiness, pale feces, and dark urine. Normal levels of bilirubin in blood are below 1.0 mg/ dl (17 μmol/ L), while levels over 2–3 mg/dl (34–51 μmol/L) typically result in jaundice. High blood bilirubin is divided into two types: unconjugated and conjugated bilirubin. Causes of jaundice vary from relatively benign to potentially fatal. High unconjugated bilirubin may be due to excess red blood cell breakdown, large bruises, gen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Urobilin
Urobilin is the chemical primarily responsible for the yellow color of urine. It is a linear tetrapyrrole compound that, along with the related colorless compound urobilinogen, are degradation products of the cyclic tetrapyrrole heme. Metabolism Urobilin is generated from the degradation of heme, which is first degraded through biliverdin to bilirubin. Bilirubin is then excreted as bile, which is further degraded by microbes present in the large intestine to urobilinogen. The enzyme responsible for the degradation is bilirubin reductase, which was identified in 2024. Some of this remains in the large intestine, and its conversion to stercobilin gives feces their brown color. Some is reabsorbed into the bloodstream and then delivered to the kidneys. When urobilinogen is exposed to air, it is oxidized to urobilin, which has a yellow color. Importance Many urine tests (urinalysis) monitor the amount of urobilin in urine, as its levels can give insight on the effectiveness of urin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stercobilin
Stercobilin is a tetrapyrrolic bile pigment and is one end-product of heme catabolism. It is the chemical responsible for the brown color of human feces and was originally isolated from feces in 1932. Stercobilin (and related urobilin) can be used as a marker for biochemical identification of fecal pollution levels in rivers. Metabolism Stercobilin results from breakdown of the heme moiety of hemoglobin found in erythrocytes (red blood cells). Macrophages break down senescent erythrocytes and break the heme down into biliverdin, which rapidly reduces to free bilirubin. Bilirubin binds tightly to plasma proteins (especially albumin) in the blood stream and is transported to the liver, where it is conjugated with one or two glucuronic acid residues into bilirubin diglucuronide, and secreted into the small intestine as bile. In the small intestine, some bilirubin glucuronide is converted back to bilirubin via bacterial enzymes in the terminal ileum. This bilirubin is furth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stercobilinogen
Stercobilinogen (fecal urobilinogen) is a chemical created by bacteria in the gut. It is made of broken-down hemoglobin. It is further processed to become the chemical that gives feces its brown color. drugs.com is a pigment that results from the breakdown of the portion of hemoglobin. The liver conjugates bilirubin, making it ; and the conjugated form i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bilirubin
Bilirubin (BR) (adopted from German, originally bili—bile—plus ruber—red—from Latin) is a red-orange compound that occurs in the normcomponent of the straw-yellow color in urine. Another breakdown product, stercobilin, causes the brown color of feces. Although bilirubin is usually found in animals rather than plants, at least one plant species, '' Strelitzia nicolai'', is known to contain the pigment. Structure Bilirubin consists of an open-chain tetrapyrrole. It is formed by oxidative cleavage of a porphyrin in heme, which affords biliverdin. Biliverdin is reduced to bilirubin. After conjugation with glucuronic acid, bilirubin is water-soluble and can be excreted. Bilirubin is structurally similar to the pigment phycobilin used by certain algae to capture light energy, and to the pigment phytochrome used by plants to sense light. All of these contain an open chain of four pyrrolic rings. Like these other pigments, some of the double-bonds in bilirubin isomer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hemolytic Anaemia
Hemolytic anemia or haemolytic anaemia is a form of anemia due to hemolysis, the abnormal breakdown of red blood cells (RBCs), either in the blood vessels (intravascular hemolysis) or elsewhere in the human body (extravascular). This most commonly occurs within the spleen, but also can occur in the reticuloendothelial system or mechanically (prosthetic valve damage). Hemolytic anemia accounts for 5% of all existing anemias. It has numerous possible consequences, ranging from general symptoms to life-threatening systemic effects. The general classification of hemolytic anemia is either intrinsic or extrinsic. Treatment depends on the type and cause of the hemolytic anemia. Symptoms of hemolytic anemia are similar to other forms of anemia (fatigue and shortness of breath), but in addition, the breakdown of red cells leads to jaundice and increases the risk of particular long-term complications, such as gallstones and pulmonary hypertension. Signs and symptoms Symptoms of hemolytic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Para-Dimethylaminobenzaldehyde
''para''-Dimethylaminobenzaldehyde is an organic compound containing amine and aldehyde moieties which is used in Ehrlich's reagent and Kovac's reagent to test for indoles. The carbonyl group typically reacts with the electron rich 2-position of the indole but may also react at the C-3 or N-1 positions. It may also be used for determination of hydrazine. Ehrlich's reagent ''para''-Dimethylaminobenzaldehyde is the main ingredient in Ehrlich's reagent. It acts as a strong electrophile which reacts with the electron-rich α-carbon (2-position) of indole rings to form a blue-colored adduct. It can be used to detect the presence of indole alkaloids. Not all indole alkaloids give a colored adduct as result of steric hindrance which does not allow the reaction to proceed. Ehrlich's reagent is also used as a stain in thin layer chromatography and as a reagent to detect urobilinogen in fresh, cool urine. If a urine sample is left to oxidize in air to form urobilin the reagent will ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ehrlich's Reagent
Ehrlich's reagent or Ehrlich reagent is a reagent containing ''p''-dimethylaminobenzaldehyde (DMAB) and thus can act as an indicator to presumptively identify indoles and urobilinogen. Several Ehrlich tests use the reagent in a medical test; some are drug tests and others contribute to diagnosis of various diseases or adverse drug reactions. It is named after Nobel Prize winner Paul Ehrlich who used it to distinguish typhoid from simple diarrhoea. The Ehrlich reagent works by binding to the C2 position of two indole moieties to form a resonance stabilised carbenium ion compound. Medical testing Ehrlich reagent can be used to detect urobilinogen, which can indicate jaundice or other liver-related issues. A very common Ehrlich test is a simple spot test to identify possible psychoactive compounds such as tryptamines (e.g. DMT) and lysergamides (e.g. LSD). It gives a negative test-result for 25I-NBOMe and many other non-indole-related psychoactives. The reagent will also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hematoma
A hematoma, also spelled haematoma, or blood suffusion is a localized bleeding outside of blood vessels, due to either disease or trauma including injury or surgery and may involve blood continuing to seep from broken capillaries. A hematoma is benign and is initially in liquid form spread among the tissues including in sacs between tissues where it may coagulate and solidify before blood is reabsorbed into blood vessels. An ecchymosis is a hematoma of the skin larger than 10 mm. They may occur among and or within many areas such as skin and other organs, connective tissues, bone, joints and muscle. A collection of blood (or even a hemorrhage) may be aggravated by anticoagulant medication (blood thinner). Blood seepage and collection of blood may occur if heparin is given via an intramuscular route; to avoid this, heparin must be given intravenously or subcutaneously. Signs and symptoms Some hematomas are visible under the surface of the skin (commonly called bruise ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Broad-spectrum Antibiotics
A broad-spectrum antibiotic is an antibiotic that acts on the two major bacterial groups, Gram-positive and Gram-negative, or any antibiotic that acts against a wide range of disease-causing bacteria. These medications are used when a bacterial infection is suspected but the group of bacteria is unknown (also called empiric therapy) or when infection with multiple groups of bacteria is suspected. This is in contrast to a narrow-spectrum antibiotic, which is effective against only a specific group of bacteria. Although powerful, broad-spectrum antibiotics pose specific risks, particularly the disruption of native, normal bacteria and the development of antimicrobial resistance. An example of a commonly used broad-spectrum antibiotic is ampicillin. Bacterial targets Antibiotics are often grouped by their ability to act on different bacterial groups. Although bacteria are biologically classified using taxonomy, disease-causing bacteria have historically been classified by their mic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ascorbic Acid
Ascorbic acid is an organic compound with formula , originally called hexuronic acid. It is a white solid, but impure samples can appear yellowish. It dissolves freely in water to give mildly acidic solutions. It is a mild reducing agent. Ascorbic acid exists as two enantiomers (mirror-image isomers), commonly denoted "" (for "levo") and "" (for "dextro"). The isomer is the one most often encountered: it occurs naturally in many foods, and is one form (" vitamer") of vitamin C, an essential nutrient for humans and many animals. Deficiency of vitamin C causes scurvy, formerly a major disease of sailors in long sea voyages. It is used as a food additive and a dietary supplement for its antioxidant properties. The "" form ( erythorbic acid) can be made by chemical synthesis, but has no significant biological role. Etymology The term ''ascorbic'' means antiscruvy and denotes the ability to fight off scurvy. It is related to combating Vitamin C deficiency. History The antiscor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
