Taurine as a Marker for the Identification of Natural Calculus Bovis and Its Substitutes - Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology - page 133

Chapter 15
Taurine as a Marker for the Identification
of Natural Calculus Bovis and Its Substitutes
Kayoko Shimada , Yuko Azuma , Masaya Kawase , Toshiharu Takahashi ,
Stephen W. Schaffer , and Kyoko Takahashi
Abstract Calculus Bovis ( C . Bovis ) is a commonly used animal-derived therapeutic
preparation. To meet the increasing clinical demand for the preparation, two artificial
substitutes for Bos Taurus have been introduced in China: artificial C . Bovis and
in vitro cultured C . Bovis . However, information on their efficacy and safety is inad-
equate. Therefore, we investigated the biological differences between the commonly
used natural preparation and its two substitutes, with the aim of not only identifying
the differences but also providing a procedure to distinguish between the different
preparations.
In the study, we prepared 9 natural C . Bovis , 2 arti fi cial C . Bovis , and 2 in vitro
cultured C . Bovis preparations for evaluation. Differences were noted between the
three preparations relative to their effect on viability of cardiac fibroblasts from 1-day-
old Wistar rats. Although natural C . Bovis had no effect on cell viability, 1-h treatment
of the cells with 0.25 mg/ml of the substitutes significantly reduced cell viability, as
K. Shimada ( * ) ￿ Y. Azuma
Department of Applied Pharmacognosy, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences,
Osaka University , Osaka , Japan
e-mail: [e-mail]
M. Kawase
Nagahama Institute of Bio-Science and Technology , Shiga , Japan
T. Takahashi
Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute, Kyoto University,
Osaka , Japan
S. W. Schaffer
School of Medicine, University of South Alabama , Mobile , AL , USA
K. Takahashi
Department of Applied Pharmacognosy, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences,
Osaka University , Osaka , Japan
The Museum of Osaka University , Osaka , Japan