Simulative Evaluation of Taurine Against Alopecia Caused by Stress in Caenorhabditis elegans - Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology - page 254

The mobility of worm was assessed by monitoring the total moving length of the
worms in the presence of anti-alopecia agents. As in the life duration experiment
above, worms were treated with 10 mg/ml of tunicamycin and relocated to the anti-
alopecia media with their usual content at 10 or 100 mg/ml. After the repositioning
into the anti-alopecia media, the extent of movement was determined according to
the turbidity of the NGM media. Their turbidity was visually compared against anti-
alopecia-free.

25.3 Results

In order to characterize taurine's potential as anti-alopecia agent against the hair
loss caused by stress, this study focused on whether it reduces the level of stress
caused by tunicamycin in C . elegans along with other leading anti-alopecia agents:
astressin-B and finasteride. Two categories of assay were performed. Firstly, the
expression of hsp-70, ER stress marker, was measured and the overall level of hsp-
70 increased after the tunicamycin treatment but significantly diminished under
treatment with taurine. As a second line of approach, measurements were made
focusing on the level of vital signs: survivorship, offspring number, and mobility of
the worms. In terms of these functional markers, taurine and the two anti-alopecia
agents caused a reduction in ER stress by restoring the vital signs toward those of
the no stress controls.

25.3.1 Reduction of Hsp-70 Under Tau Treatment After Tun

The expression of hsp-70 significantly increased compared to no stress control when
the worms were treated with tunicamycin. In the presence of taurine, however, the
level of hsp-70 expression was significantly affected. The extent of hsp-70 expres-
sion showed a dose-dependent manner, along with the amount of the tunicamycin
added (Fig. 25.2 ). When incubated with astressin-B or finasteride, the worms failed
to show any significant variation in terms of hsp-70 protein expression (data not
shown). The data imply that taurine may lower the level of ER stress caused by
tunicamycin, since the reduced expression of hsp-70 represents the decreased level
of ER stress in the worms.

25.3.2 Higher Rescue Rate Under Taurine Treatment

The treatment with tunicamycin curtailed the lifespan of worms. Beginning two
days after the start of the culture, tunicamycin was shown to adversely affect the
growth of C . elegans according to the significant reduction of worms in number