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Green jaundice

A study of serum biliverdin, mesobiliverdin and other green pigments

The American Journal of Digestive Diseases volume 16, pages 873–880 (1971)Cite this article

Abstract

Green jaundice is generally ascribed to biliverdinemia, but no proof of the identity of responsible pigments is known. A serum biliverdin concentration of 3 mg%, found in 1 of our patients, is thought to be the highest such value recorded. The accepted analytic method employed, however, was found to be nonspecific; a mixture of biliverdin, mesobiliverdin and related pigments appeared to contribute to the green color observed. The use of Triton X-100 and KCN facilitated spectrophotometric distinction of these pigments from green hemoprotein in the 3 illustrative patients described.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. From the Department of Medicine, University of Minnesota, and Northwestern Hospital, Minneapolis, Minn.

    Albert J. Greenberg MD, Irene Bossenmaier BA & Samuel Schwartz MD

Authors
  1. Albert J. Greenberg MD
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  2. Irene Bossenmaier BA
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  3. Samuel Schwartz MD
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Additional information

The authors wish to thank Dr. E. A. Davis for her aid in the spectrophotometric analyses; Dr. Z. J. Petryka for bile pigment samples and assistance with thin layer chromatography; Dr. C. J. Watson for his interest in this study; Drs. J. T. Pewters, S. Child, J. Hiatt, H. L. Sharp and P. Wedemeyer for referring patients and/or sera for study.

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Greenberg, A.J., Bossenmaier, I. & Schwartz, S. Green jaundice. Digest Dis Sci 16, 873–880 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02238167

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02238167

Keywords

  • Public Health
  • Color
  • Green Color
  • Biliverdin
  • Related Pigment