Researchers at Utah State University (USU) have reported a safer, cost-effective solution to inflammation-associated diseases in livestock, which could also bring about helpful therapeutics for humans.
USU chemist Cheng-Wei “Tom” Chang and his research partner, biologist Jon Takemoto, in collaboration with Yuan-Yu Lin of National Taiwan University, report a natural alternative rising from the long-known, anti-inflammatory substance biliverdin, which could promote better gastrointestinal health in livestock while reducing reliance on antibiotics.
In a study conducted with Ching-An Peng of the University of Idaho, the USU scientists note biliverdin also reverses the effects of osteoporosis in a mouse model. Takemoto, Chang and Lin shared additional findings in a review paper in the March 19 issue of the open access journal Molecules.
“Biliverdin, produced by plants and animals, is a potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory that protects against oxidative stress and injury,” Takemoto says. “We propose a natural analog to biliverdin, known as mesobiliverdin, which bypasses the widespread need for antibiotics in livestock production and enables commercial-scale production of the natural substance.”
Chang, professor in USU’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, says previous attempts over many years to produce large quantities of biliverdin for medical use as pharmaceuticals have failed.
“Availability of biliverdin is limited and is often plagued by uncertain purity,” he says. “We have developed a way to produce our biliverdin analog, mesobiliverdin IXα, in pure, large quantities from microalgae.”
Chang reports mesobiliverdin IXα, as the researchers predicted, behaves like biliverdin in all the ways the team has tested it.
“While learning to purify mesobiliverdin IXα, we had the idea of making the product ‘Aggie-Feed,’” he says. “Mesobiliverdin-enriched microalgae offers a cost-effective method of providing safer, nutritional sustenance for livestock.”
Microalgae is abundant and commercially scalable, he says.
“We can produce mesobiliverdin-enriched microalgae for livestock feed without additional purification steps that made previous production efforts too costly and ineffective,” Chang says. “Aggie-Feed is a ready-for-market supplement beneficial for animal health.”
Takemoto says interest in biliverdin research is re-emerging due to its potential as a therapeutic agent for humans.
“Harvard Medical School immunobiologist Fritz Bach, who died in 2011, pioneered the study of biliverdin, which is a greenish pigment derived from red blood cell breakdown,” Takemoto says. “Bach was seeking solutions to obstacles in transplant immunology, including organ donation rejection.”
Until that time, biliverdin, which in animals is converted to bilirubin, transported to the liver and excreted, was considered a waste product, he says.
“Excess biliverdin and bilirubin in humans can cause jaundice, which is often an indication of an underlying health problem,” Takemoto says. “Instead, from Bach’s work and insight, we’re learning of the benefits of biliverdin, which protects against cellular damage and disease. If he were alive today, Professor Bach would certainly understand and appreciate our Aggie-Feed.”
