FREE RADICAL INTERMEDIATES THEIR POLARIZATION DURING REDOX PROCESSES OF BILE PIGMENTS

The investigation of bile pigments (bilirubin (BR), biliverdin (BV), purpurin (Pu), choletelin (Ch) etc.) by cyclic voltammetry, in-situ rapid scanning thin layer spectroelectrochemistry and ESR spectroscopy indicates that many free radical intermediates and polymers are produced during oxidation and reduction processes.

Self-assembling bile pigments for cancer diagnosis and therapy

Nanomaterials that integrate multiple functions provide promising opportunities for noninvasive and targeted cancer diagnosis and therapy.However,the unclear metabolic pathway to nanomaterials brought difficulties to clinical application.Selfassembling bile pigments are endogenous functional materials with excellent biocompatibility and low toxicity.Functional materials based on endogenous bile pigments provide a decent solution to this dilemma.In this review,the features and functions of self-assembling bile pigments are discussed in detail for cancer diagnosis and treatment applications.Emphases are put on the intrinsic physicochemical characteristics of bile pigments and their applications,including drug delivery,photoacoustic imaging,photothermal therapy,and anti-inflammation therapy.This review will promote the exploration of these areas and tremendously realize the innovative applications of self-assembling biliverdin/bilirubin nanomaterials toward cancer diagnosis and therapy.

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-20th 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.