Chinese Tea Ingredient May Help Newborn Jaundice

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Chinese Tea Ingredient May Help Newborn Jaundice

Thu Mar 27, 1:50 PM ET

By Pincock

GLASGOW (Reuters Health) - U.S. researchers are investigating an

ingredient of a common Chinese herbal remedy as a potential treatment

for the jaundice that often affects newborns.

The yellowish skin color that defines jaundice is caused when a molecule

called bilirubin accumulates under the skin. Bilirubin is a breakdown

product of red blood cells and is normally cleared by the liver.

The livers of newborns, particularly premature babies, may not be

developed enough to clear all the circulating bilirubin, making the

condition very common.

Jaundice often disappears by itself, but in some cases untreated

jaundice can lead to a serious condition called kernicterus that can

cause irreversible brain damage. Blue-light therapy or, in severe cases,

a blood transfusion, are effective treatments.

At the British Endocrine Societies' joint meeting here, Dr. D.

from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston told Reuters Health his

group was investigating a natural compound that seems to help the liver

clear bilirubin from the blood.

The research builds on a study published earlier this month in the

journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences where and

others said they had identified a cell receptor called CAR that was

central to the metabolism of bilirubin.

" Unexpectedly, CAR expression is very low in livers of neonatal mice and

humans, " the group wrote in the March 18 report, published online at

www.pnas.org.

" There is some reason to believe that activating this receptor would in

fact be therapeutically useful for neonatal jaundice, " said at the

meeting.

Because the Baylor researchers have a particular interest in natural

products, they looked for herbal therapies that might be useful in this

context. They began investigating an herbal tea, called Yin Zhi Huang,

that is very widely used in China to treat jaundice.

Animal studies, which have been submitted for publication in a medical

journal, showed that the tea does work, at least in lab animals, by

activating the CAR receptor, he said.

The next step is to pinpoint the active ingredients.

" This is actually a tea made from four different plants, " said.

" We know which plant is the most important one, and we have a compound

from that plant that seems to work. "

" We're testing that to see if it is that, or is more complicated. "

SOURCE: Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences

10.1073/pnas.0630614100.