Benefit Analysis and Value Interpretation of Rabbit Bile

    China's traditional medicine has a long history of using animal bile to prevent and treat diseases. Commonly used biles include those of bear, pig, cattle, sheep, chicken, and others; their nature and flavor are bitter and cold. They clear heat and resolve toxicity, drain dampness, relieve cough, and move the bowels. They are commonly used for acute and chronic bronchitis, pediatric pneumonia, whooping cough, infantile convulsions, twitching, dysphoric fever, red eyes, jaundice, ulcerated lymphatic tuberculosis, enteritis, dysentery, constipation, and other ailments. They have been used without decline for thousands of years. With the continuous development of bile acid chemistry, people have carried out chemical composition analyses of the bile of various animals and conducted pharmacological activity studies on its various components, further elevating the traditional applications.
    Pharmacological tests on rabbit bile by professionals have shown that the various pharmacological effects of rabbit bile are similar to those of the precious medicinal material bear bile, and it is stronger than bear bile in sedation, antitussive, antihistamine, and anti-acetylcholine effects. This research result provides a basis for seeking substitutes for bear bile. The Beijing Tongrentang extraction plant used rabbit bile as a raw material to extract total rabbit bile acids and produced Liyanling tablets for treating pediatric purulent tonsillitis, with efficacy similar to that of artificial cow-bezoar in treating purulent tonsillitis.
Processing Methods for Rabbit Bile
I. Fresh-keeping method.
Tools: wide-mouth glass bottles, vacuum drying bottles, sterilized clips, small round-tipped scissors, large and small syringes; drugs: formaldehyde, thiophanate-methyl, carbendazim, bleaching powder, salt water.
Operating procedure:
1. Tightly tie the bile stalk with cotton thread, rinse clean with disinfectant water, then soak in liquor of 57 degrees or above for 1 to 5 minutes, then clip it into medical alcohol and soak briefly (to check whether it is broken and leaking bile; if damaged, it must not be placed in), then place it in a 1000-fold formaldehyde aqueous solution or a 250-fold carbendazim aqueous solution, or a 150 to 250-fold thiophanate-methyl aqueous solution, bottle it and seal it. Store in a cool, ventilated, light-protected place at a temperature below 20°C; a constant-temperature cabinet is best. Packaging specification is 100 per bottle, with a purity of 98% or above.
2. Tightly tie the bile stalk with cotton thread, rinse clean with disinfectant water, soak in medical alcohol for a moment, then scoop it out with medicinal scissors, tie it tightly with sterilized instruments, insert a syringe into the bile, slowly draw out all the bile, take it out and put it into a 500 ml dry glass bottle, seal it and place it in a cool, ventilated, dry place at a temperature within 20°C; it is best to put it in a constant-temperature cabinet. The purity by this method is above 98%.
II. Air-drying method. Tightly tie the bile stalk with cotton thread, rinse clean with disinfectant water, scoop it out with clips and soak in medicinal alcohol for 2 to 5 minutes, take it out and hang it in a dry place to air-dry; after 10 days at a temperature within 20°C, use sterilized scissors to cut off the bile stalk and break the membrane to take the bile, use surgical forceps to remove the crystals, or pack 50 grams of bile membrane whole into a bottle; the purity is above 90%. Place in a cool, ventilated, light-protected place. Wrap the outside with black paper; it must not be stored mixed with substances having peculiar odors.