Lethality of Taurine and Alcohol Coadministration in Mice - Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology - page 26

Chapter 4
Lethality of Taurine and Alcohol
Coadministration in Mice
Andrey G. Taranukhin , Pirjo Saransaari , and Simo S. Oja
Abstract Alcohol consumption by mothers during pregnancy causes a fetal alcohol
syndrome associated with massive neuronal apoptosis. We have recently shown that
taurine at a dose of 2 g/kg saves about 50% of dying cerebellar neurons from
ethanol-induced apoptosis in 7-day-old mice. However, a further increase in the
taurine dose to ethanol-treated mice had a toxic and in some cases lethal effect. In
the present work we studied the toxic effects of taurine and ethanol coadministra-
tion in three age groups: 7-day-old, adult (5 to 6 months old), and old (12 to 13
months old) mice. Taurine and ethanol were injected in two half-doses: taurine at 0
and 4 h and ethanol at 1 and 3 h. The minimal 100% lethal doses in coadministration
of taurine and ethanol were the following: 7-day-old mice—6 g/kg taurine + 5 g/kg
ethanol, adult mice—10 g/kg of taurine + 8 g/kg of ethanol, and old mice—above
6 g/kg of taurine + 6 g/kg of ethanol. All mice treated with taurine or ethanol alone
survived. The adult and old mice dying from the combined toxicity of taurine and
ethanol showed a marked fall in blood glucose, which may be one reason for lethality.
A comparison of the lethal doses of taurine and ethanol coadministration in different
age groups allows us to conclude that the adverse effect of the combined toxicity of
taurine and ethanol is age dependent.
A. G. Taranukhin ( * )
University of Tampere Medical School ,
Tampere , Finland
Laboratory of Comparative Somnology and Neuroendocrinology, Sechenov Institute
of Evolutionary Physiology and Biochemistry, St.-Petersburg, Russia
e-mail: andrey.taranukhin@uta. fi
P. Saransaari
University of Tampere Medical School , Tampere , Finland
S. S. Oja
Department of Pediatrics , Tampere University Hospital , Tampere , Finland