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Hyperbilirubinemia is a clinical condition describing an elevation of blood bilirubin level due to the inability to properly metabolise or excrete bilirubin, a product of erythrocytes breakdown. In severe cases, it is manifested as jaundice , the yellowing of tissues like skin and the sclera when excess bilirubin deposits in them. [ 1 ]
Bilirubin (BR) (from the Latin for "red bile") is a red-orange compound that occurs in the normal catabolic pathway that breaks down heme in vertebrates.This catabolism is a necessary process in the body's clearance of waste products that arise from the destruction of aged or abnormal red blood cells. [3]
When total bilirubin levels exceed 40 μmol/L, bilirubin deposition at the sclera, skin, and mucous membranes will give these areas a yellow colour, thus it is called jaundice. [6] The increase in predominantly unconjugated bilirubin is due to overproduction, reduced hepatic uptake of the unconjugated bilirubin and reduced conjugation of bilirubin.
As unconjugated bilirubin has a high affinity to albumin, at high level it is not efficiently cleared through glomerular filtration and it binds to the elastic tissue of the skin and sclera, where high albumin content can be found. [25] This explains the yellow discolouration observed in these tissues in hemolytic jaundice.
Rotor syndrome (also known as Rotor type hyperbilirubinemia) [2] is a rare cause of mixed direct (conjugated) and indirect (unconjugated) hyperbilirubinemia, relatively benign, autosomal recessive [3] bilirubin disorder characterized by non-hemolytic jaundice due to the chronic elevation of predominantly conjugated bilirubin.
Hereditary hyperbilirubinemia refers to a group of conditions where levels of bilirubin, a byproduct of red blood cell metabolism, are elevated in the blood due to a genetic cause. [1] Various mutations of enzymes in the liver cells, which breakdown bilirubin, cause varying elevated levels of bilirubin in the blood. [2]
The bilirubin present in the plasma is largely unconjugated in this setting as they haven't been taken up and conjugated by the liver. [3] In this case, total serum bilirubin increases while the ratio of direct bilirubin to indirect bilirubin remains 96 to 4 as up to 96%-99% of bilirubin in the bile are conjugated mentioned above. [9] [1]
Van den Bergh reaction is a chemical reaction used to measure bilirubin levels in blood. [1] [2] More specifically, it determines the amount of conjugated bilirubin in the blood. The reaction produces azobilirubin. Principle: bilirubin reacts with diazotised sulphanilic acid to produce purple coloured azobilirubin. [3]