Calculus bovis


Calculus bovis, niu-huang or ox bezoars are dried gallstones of cattle used in Chinese herbology. In Asian countries calculus bovis are sometimes harvested when steers are slaughtered. Their gall bladders are taken out, the bile is filtered, and the stones are cleaned and dried. The bezoars may also be surgically removed by veterinarians when working cattle become ill. In western countries they are usually discarded. Its equivalent in Vedic culture is Gorochana.
Calculus bovis have a color varying from golden yellow to brownish yellow. The shape of a stone is variable and depends on how it was formed, becoming spherical, oval, triangular, tubular or irregular.
Since natural calculus bovis are scarce they can be very expensive. There are artificial calculus bovis or bovis calculus artifactus used as substitutes. In China these are manufactured from cholic acid derived from bovine bile combined with dry bovine bile powder, porcine ursodeoxycholic acid, taurine, bilirubin, cholesterol, etc. Chinese regulations forbid the use of artificial calculus bovis in 42 drugs.
Calculus bovis can cultivated in vivo by implanting a foreign object and microbials into bovine biles. It can also be cultivated in vitro from bovine bile by adding ursodeoxycholic acid, cholic acid, and calcium bilirubinate, producing calculus bovis sativus. Unlike artificial calculus bovis, either type of cultivated calculus bovis can fully replace calculus bovis under Chinese regulations.