Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
SBMC
Spine bone mineral content
FBMD
Femur bone mineral density
FBMC
Femur bone mineral content
6.1
Introduction
Taurine (2-aminoethanesulphonic acid) is a sulfur-containing amino acid that is present
in the diet. Taurine, a free amino acid, is found in millimolar concentrations in most
mammalian tissues. Mammals are able to synthesize taurine endogenously, but some
species such as humans are more dependent on dietary sources of taurine. Taurine, a
sulfur-containing amino acid, has been termed a functional nutrient (Bouckenooghe
et al.
2006
). Although it is not incorporated into proteins, taurine has been shown and
proposed to have a number of essential biological functions (Huxtable
1992
) . Recent
and past studies suggested that taurine might be a pertinent candidate for use as a nutri-
tional supplement to protect against oxidative stress, diabetes mellitus, neurodegenera-
tive diseases, or atherosclerosis (Bouckenooghe et al.
2006
). It is best known for its role
in lipid metabolism, where taurine enhances the absorption of fat in the intestine by
stimulating bile acid synthesis, and the degradation of cholesterol (Huxtable
1992
) .
Also, in animals, dietary taurine improved high blood pressure (Anuradha and
Balakrishnan
1999
) and hypercholesterolemia (Murakami et al.
2002
) . The effects of
taurine in mammals are numerous and varied. Taurine is a powerful agent in regulating
and reducing the intracellular calcium levels. Two specific targets of taurine action are
reported to be Na
+
−Ca
2+
exchangers and metabotropic receptors mediating phospholi-
pase-C (PLC) in central nervous system (Foos and Wu
2002
). However, its effect on
bone is not clear. Increased bone mineral density (BMD) and bone mineral content
(BMC) in growth period has been the subject of numerous epidemiological studies.
Taurine could act either directly or indirectly by enhancing growth factor production.
Although evidence from animal study indicates taurine effect on bone (Lubec et al.
1997
; Koide et al.
1999
), there are no published reports evaluating the role of taurine
supplementation on bone in male growing rats. The purpose of this study was to inves-
tigate the effect of dietary taurine supplementation on BMD and BMC in male rats.
The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of taurine supplementation
with appropriate calcium level on bone in growing rat.
6.2
Methods
6.2.1
Materials
Twenty Sprague-Dawley male rats (body weight 200 ± 10 g) were divided into two
groups, control and taurine group (2% taurine-supplemented diet). The animals had
free access to their experimental diet and deionized water during the entire experiment,
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