Bombina orientalis

Figure 8 Venomous animals with chemotherapeutic potential, (a) Vampire bat (Desmodus rotundas (http // www.Animalpicturesarchive.com)) (b) medicinal leech [Hirudo medicinalis)-, (c) oriental fire-bellied toad (Bombina orientalis)-, (d) phantasmal poison frog [Epipedobates tricolor), (e) solitary tunicate sea peach Halocynthia aurantium), (f) glia monster (Heloderma suspectum). Photos (b)-(f) by I. Boyd (Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike License), H. Van (Public domain), L. Ghoul (Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike License), A. Rode (Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike License) and Arpingstone (Public domain), respectively. See website for photo credit (a).

Haslewood and Wootton isolated varanic acid, 3a,7a,12a,24-tetrahydroxy-5)S-cholestan-26-oic acid, from bile of the monitor lizard, Varanus niloticus [53]. Varanic acid was later found in bile of the frog, Bombina orientalis, where it occurs in the unconjugated form [18]. Une et al. synthesized 4 diastereoisomers at C-24 and C-25 of 3a,7a,12a,24-tetrahydroxy-5y3-cholestan-26-oic acid. Comparisons with these synthetic bile acids of known absolute configuration showed that the varanic acid in frog bile is (24i ,25S )-3a,7a,12a,24-tetrahydroxy-5jS-cholestan-26-oic acid [54]. 

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