Effect of Dietary Taurine and Arginine Supplementation on Bone Mineral Density in Growing Female Rats - Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology - page 314

Chapter 31
Effect of Dietary Taurine and Arginine
Supplementation on Bone Mineral Density
in Growing Female Rats
Mi-Ja Choi and Kyung Ja Chang
Abstract The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of arginine or
taurine alone and taurine plus arginine on bone mineral density (BMD) and mark-
ers of bone formation and bone resorption in growing female rats. Forty female
SD rats (75 ± 5 g) were randomly divided into four groups (control, taurine, argi-
nine, taurine + arginine group) and treatment lasted for 9 weeks. All rats were fed
on a diet and deionized water. BMD and bone mineral content (BMC) were mea-
sured using PIXImus (GE Lunar Co, Wisconsin, USA) in spine and femur. The
serum and urine concentrations of calcium and phosphorus were determined.
Bone formation was measured by serum osteocalcin and alkaline phosphatase
concentrations, and the bone resorption rate was measured by deoxypyridinoline
cross-links. Femur BMD was significantly increased in the group with taurine
supplementation and femur BMC/weight was significantly increased in the group
with arginine + taurine supplementation. Rats fed an arginine or taurine supple-
mental diet increased femur BMD or femur BMC, but a taurine + arginine-supple-
mented diet does not have a better effect than arginine or taurine alone in the spine
BMD. The femur BMC, expressed per body weight, was higher in arginine + tau-
rine group than in the taurine or arginine group. The results of this study suggest
that taurine + arginine supplementation may be beneficial on femur BMC in grow-
ing female rats. Additional work is needed to clarify the interactive effects between
the taurine and arginine to determine whether dietary intakes of arginine and tau-
rine affect bone quality in growing rats.
M. -J. Choi ( * )
Department of Food and Nutrition , Keimyung University ,
1000 Sindangdong , Dalseogu, Daegu 704-701 , South Korea
e-mail: [e-mail]
K. J. Chang
Department of Food and Nutrition , Inha University ,
Incheon , South Korea