Bilirubin

Bilirubin is a breakdown product of red blood cells.

Jaundice is evident in almost 60 % of all mature, healthy newborns on the fist day of their life. The reason for this lies in an adaptation disorder in the early postnatal phase. On the one hand the neonatal liver's glucuronyl transferase is still at a lower level than in adults, and on the other hand the part of catabolised fetal haemoglobin is accumulating. This is because the erythrocytes of a newborn have a shorter life span than the red blood cells of adults.

Any unconjugated bilirubin that is bound to albumin can cross the blood-brain-barrier and act as a neurotoxin. The accumulation of bilirubin in brain tissue can hence cause irreversible brain damage and an infant can even die from this.