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Urinary Biopyrrins: Potential Biomarker for Monitoring of the Response to Treatment with Anxiolytics
Author(s) -
Novío Silvia,
Núñez María Jesús,
Ponte Carmen María,
FreireGarabal Manuel
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
basic and clinical pharmacology and toxicology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.805
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1742-7843
pISSN - 1742-7835
DOI - 10.1111/j.1742-7843.2012.00888.x
Subject(s) - biomarker , urinary system , medicine , pharmacology , chemistry , biochemistry
During periods of psychological stress, excess amounts of free radicals are produced. Bilirubin oxidative metabolites (biopyrrins; BOM ) are generated from bilirubin as a result of its scavenging action against free radicals. We investigated whether the urinary excretion of biopyrrins is altered by anxiolytics. In the present study, mice were immobilized for a period of 6 hr. Alprazolam (0.1–1 mg/kg of body‐weight) was administered 30 min. before subjecting the animals to acute stress. The BOM concentrations in urine and the corticosterone levels in serum were measured by ELISA with an anti‐bilirubin antibody and EIA , respectively. We observed an increase in urinary biopyrrins in stressed mice in comparison with non‐stressed mice and a decrease after the treatment of stressed animals with alprazolam. A correlation between urinary BOM and serum corticosterone levels was found. Urinary levels of biopyrrins might be used to assess the response to anxiolytics prescribed during acute stress periods.