Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A green pigment, C33H34N4O6, occurring in bile and sometimes formed by oxidation of bilirubin.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The green pigment found in the bile of herbivorous animals, to which the formula C16H20N2O5 has been given. It is produced artificially by the oxidation of bilirubin. See biliprasin.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Physiol.) A green pigment present in the bile, formed from bilirubin by oxidation.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun biochemistry A green tetrapyrrolic bile pigment, a product of heme catabolism, responsible for the yellowish colour in bruises.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[German : Latin bīlis, bile + French verdir, to make green; see verdant.]

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Examples

  • When the heme spills out, it is broken down to biliverdin, which is green.

    Science Question from a Toddler: Why is poop brown? Boing Boing 2009

  • You need to understand how colors blend together to really appreciate it, but you can watch a bruise start out very dark (lotsa red pigment), then as it spreads out you'll see some greeen biliverdin around the edges, then later some yellow bilirubin when it really starts to spread out, and finally the bruise looks brown right before it goes away.

    Science Question from a Toddler: Why is poop brown? Boing Boing 2009

  • Remember, the progression goes from heme (red), to biliverdin (green), to bilirubin (yellow), to stercobillin (brown).

    Science Question from a Toddler: Why is poop brown? Boing Boing 2009

  • The inducible phase II enzyme HO-1, together with the constitutively expressed isoenzyme HO-2, degrades free heme into three products: carbon monoxide (CO), biliverdin (which is rapidly converted to bilirubin), and free iron

    PLoS ONE Alerts: New Articles Nadia G. Innamorato et al. 2010

  • Hemoglobin is metabolized into iron, carbon monoxide, and biliverdin by heme oxygenase.

    Recently Uploaded Slideshows 2009

  • The scientists used X-ray diffraction analysis to determine the 3D structure of the enzyme at atomic resolution both alone and in complex with its natural substrate, the green biliverdin IXa.

    innovations-report 2008

  • In a formal four-electron reduction, the substrate biliverdin IX to yield 3Z-PEB, a reaction that commonly requires the action of two individual FDBRs.

    Journal of Biological Chemistry current issue 2008

  • The first reaction catalyzed by PebS is the reduction of the 15,16-methine bridge of the biliverdin tetrapyrrole system.

    Journal of Biological Chemistry current issue 2008

  • "The vomitus was at first composed of the gastric contents, the bile of a peculiarly pure, grass-green, biliverdin color mixed with a yellowish chyme-like material, and in the later stages of the disease showed thin masses having a fecal odor_ (ileus paralyticus).

    Appendicitis John Henry Tilden 1895

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