Taurine Enhances the Sexual Response and Mating Ability in Aged Male Rats - Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology - page 325

Chapter 32
Taurine Enhances the Sexual Response
and Mating Ability in Aged Male Rats

Jiancheng Yang , Shumei Lin , Ying Feng , Gaofeng Wu ,
and Jianmin Hu

Abstract It has been demonstrated that taurine is abundant in male reproductive
organs, and can be biosynthesized by testis, but the taurine concentration will reduce
with aging. The levels of serum LH, T, NOS, and NO were found to be obviously
increased by taurine supplementation in aged rats in our previous study. In addition,
aging will result in a significant decline in sexual response and function, which may
be attributed to the androgen deficiency. Furthermore, NO has been proposed as a
crucial mediator of penile erection. That makes us hypothesize that there is potential
relationship between taurine decline and erection dysfunction in aged males. So the
primary aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of taurine on male sexu-
ality in rats. Taurine was offered in water to male aged (20 months old) rats for 110
days. The effects of taurine on the sexual response, mating ability, levels of serum
reproductive hormones, and penile NOS and NO levels were investigated. The results
showed that taurine can significantly reduce the EL and ML; obviously increase the
ERF, MF, IF, and EJF; stimulate the secretion of GnRH, LH, and T; and elevate penis
NOS and NO level in aged rats. The results indicated that taurine can enhance the
sexual response and mating ability in aged male rats by increasing the level of testos-
terone and NO, but the exact mechanism of which needs to be further investigated.

Abbreviations

LH Luteinizing hormone

T Testosterone

NOS Nitric oxide synthase

J. Yang ￿ S. Lin ￿ Y. Feng ￿ G. Wu ￿ J. Hu ( * )
College of Animal Science & Veterinary Medicine, Shenyang Agricultural University,
Shenyang 110866 , People's Republic of China
e-mail: [e-mail]