Patent ID: 7098238

Claim:
A method for diagnosing vasospasm or vasoconstriction in a host comprising determining the presence or absence of a compound of formula (I) wherein when X is ═CH(C═O) NH 2 , Y 1 is hydrogen, and one of R 1 and R 2 is methyl and the other is —CH═CH 2 , or When X is ═O, Y 1 is hydrogen, R 1 is —CH═CH 2 and R 2 is methyl; formula (II) wherein each of Y 2 and Y 3 is hydrogen, Z is —CH 2 (C═O)CH((CH 2 ), 2 CO 2 H)(C═O)CH 3 one of R 5 and R 6 is methyl and the other is —CH═CH 2 , R 7 is methyl, R 8 is (CH 2 ) 2 CO 2 H; formula (III) wherein one of R 13 and R 14 is methyl and the other is —CH═CH 2 , each of R 15 and R 18 is methyl and each of R 16 and R 17 is —(CH 2 ) 2 CO 2 H; or other degradation fragment of bilirubin or biliverdin, or salt thereof, wherein the presence of the compound of formula (I), (II) or (III), or the degradation fragment of bilirubin or biliverdin, indicates that the host has vasospasm or vasoconstriction.