Bilirubin facts for kids
Bilirubin is a yellowish substance that's made when your body breaks down old red blood cells. Red blood cells are like tiny delivery trucks that carry oxygen all around your body. After about 120 days, these trucks get old and need to be recycled. That's where bilirubin comes in!
Think of it like this: When you recycle paper, you break it down into smaller pieces to make new paper. Similarly, when your body recycles old red blood cells, it breaks them down, and one of the things that's left over is bilirubin.
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Where does bilirubin come from?
Bilirubin is made in a few steps, and different parts of your body help out:
1. Spleen: The spleen is an organ in your tummy that acts like a recycling center for old red blood cells. When a red blood cell gets old, the spleen grabs it and starts breaking it down.
2. Liver: The liver is another organ in your tummy, and it's like a super-important cleaning factory. After the spleen breaks down the red blood cell, the bilirubin goes to the liver. The liver changes the bilirubin into a form that can be removed from your body.
3. Gallbladder: The gallbladder is a small pouch that sits under the liver. It stores a liquid called bile, which helps you digest fats. Bilirubin is added to bile and then released into your intestines.
4. Intestines: The intestines are long tubes where your body digests food. In the intestines, some of the bilirubin is removed from your body in your poop. That's why poop is brown! A small amount of bilirubin is also removed in your pee.
Why is bilirubin important?
Bilirubin is a normal part of how your body works. It's a sign that your body is doing a good job of recycling old red blood cells. However, too much bilirubin can cause problems.
What happens if there's too much bilirubin?
When there's too much bilirubin in your blood, it's called hyperbilirubinemia. This can cause a condition called jaundice, which makes your skin and the whites of your eyes look yellow.
Jaundice is common in newborn babies. This is because their livers aren't fully developed yet, and they can't remove bilirubin as quickly as older kids and adults. In most cases, newborn jaundice goes away on its own in a few days or weeks.
Older kids and adults can also get jaundice, but it's usually a sign of a problem with the liver, gallbladder, or blood. Some things that can cause jaundice include:
- Liver diseases: Like hepatitis (an infection of the liver) or cirrhosis (scarring of the liver).
- Gallstones: These are small, hard stones that can block the flow of bile from the gallbladder.
- Blood disorders: Like hemolytic anemia, which causes red blood cells to break down too quickly.
How is bilirubin measured?
Doctors can measure the amount of bilirubin in your blood with a simple blood test. The test is called a bilirubin test.
The normal range for bilirubin levels is different for different people, but generally:
- Total bilirubin: 0.3 to 1.0 mg/dL (milligrams per deciliter)
- Direct bilirubin: 0.0 to 0.3 mg/dL
- Indirect bilirubin: 0.2 to 0.8 mg/dL
If your bilirubin levels are higher than normal, your doctor may want to do more tests to find out why.
Fun facts about bilirubin
- The word "bilirubin" comes from the Latin word "bilis," which means bile, and the Latin word "ruber," which means red.
- Bilirubin is not just found in humans. It's also found in animals, including birds, reptiles, and fish.
- Scientists are studying bilirubin to see if it might have other important jobs in the body, like protecting cells from damage.
Important dates and figures
- 1847: Bilirubin was first discovered by French chemist Louis-Antoine Gmelin.
- 1958: Phototherapy was first used to treat newborn jaundice by British nurse Sister Jean Ward.
- 120 days: The average lifespan of a red blood cell.
- 0.3 to 1.0 mg/dL: The normal range for total bilirubin in adults.
Images for kids
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Heme metabolism
See also
In Spanish: Bilirrubina para niños
