Die Bedeutung der Leber für die Genese des Icterus neonatorum

Insufficient Glucuronide Formation in the Newborn and its Relationship to the Pathogenesis of Icterus Neonatorum

“…(RECEIVED FOR PUBLICATION FEBRUARY 24, 1958) In the last few years the pathogenesis of icterus neonatorum and kernikterus has aroused renewed interest (Napp and Plotz, 1949;Obrinsky, Allen and Anderson, 1954;Billing, Cole and Lathe, 1954;Meyer, 1956). The discovery by Schmid (1956) and Billing, Cole and Lathe (1957) that bilirubin is excreted in the bile as a glucuronide now makes it possible to reinvestigate this problem more specifically.…”

“…The accumulation of bilirubin in the blood after birth suggests that the excretory capacity of the liver is inadequate. Such an inadequacy has been demonstrated only indirectly, either by the diminished ability of newborn and premature infants to excrete bromsulphalein dye (Mollison and Cutbush, 1949;Yudkin and Gellis, 1949; Obrinsky, Denley and Brauer, 1952;Perl, 1957) or by the fact that an inverse relationship exists between the amount of bile pigment in the meconium and the subsequent rise of the bilirubin in the serum (Ross, Waugh and Malloy, 1937;Fashena, 1948;Napp and Plotz, 1949;Vest, 1958). It therefore seemed promising to investigate the glucuronic acid conjugating ability of the liver in newborn and premature infants.…”

Chromatographic Study of Bile Pigments in Faeces of Newborns and Infants

“…Dr T h e ch ief bile p ig m e n t in m econium a n d stools o f new born in fan ts is b iliru b in . Its to ta l a m o u n t varies g reatly in m econium as well as in th e faeces [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]. V alues w ith in the range of 0 to 110 m g/100 g were fo u n d in th e first m econium .…”