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Reduction of bilirubin ditaurate by the intestinal bacterium Clostridium perfringens
Renata Koníčková1, Alena Jirásková, Jaroslav Zelenka
1Institute of Medical Biochemistry and Laboratory Diagnostics, 1st Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic.
Abstract:
Bilirubin is degraded in the human gut by microflora into urobilinoids. In our study we investigated whether the bilirubin-reducing strain of Clostridium perfringens can reduce bilirubin ditaurate (BDT), a bile pigment of some lower vertebrates, without hydrolysis of the taurine moiety. C. perfringes was incubated under anaerobic conditions with BDT; reduction products were quantified by spectrophotometry and separated by TLC. Based on Rf values of BDT reduction products and synthetic urobilinogen ditaurate, three novel taurine-conjugated urobilinoids were identified. It is likely that bilirubin-reducing enzyme(s) serve for the effective disposal of electrons produced by fermentolytic processes in these anaerobic bacteria.
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