Characterization of taurine as anti-obesity agent in C. elegans.
BACKGROUND
Taurine plays an important role in reducing physiological stress. Recent studies indicated that taurine may serve as an anti-obesity agent at the cellular level. This study characterizes taurine's potential anti-obesity function in C. elegans, which have become a popular in vivo model for understanding the regulatory basis of lipid biosynthesis and deposition.


METHODS
Two strains of C. elegans were raised on a normal or high-fat diet: N2 (normal) and RB1600, a mutant in tub-1 that serves as a tubby homologue and functions parallel to the 3-ketoacyl-CoA thiolase gene (kat-1) in regulating lipid accumulation. Taurine's effect on lipid deposition was characterized according to assays of Sudan black B staining, triglyceride content measurement, food consumption, and mobility comparison.


RESULTS
When N2 was treated with taurine after the culture in the high-fat media, the worms showed lower lipid accumulation in the assays of the Sudan black B staining and the triglyceride quantification. The anti-obesity effect was less evident in the experiment for RB1600. When the amount of taurine was increased for the high-fat-diet-treated N2 strain, fat deposition decreased and mobility increased in a dose-dependent manner. In the food consumption assays, taurine did not cause a significant change in food intake.


CONCLUSIONS
Taken together, these results strongly imply that taurine plays an important role in reducing fat deposition by modulating cellular pathways for lipid accumulation and stimulating mobility, but not the pathways for lipid biosynthesis and food intake.
Kim
Hye Min
HM
Department of Life Sciences, University of Seoul, Dongdaemun-Gu, Seoul, 130-743, Korea. gpals819@naver.com
Do
Chang-Hee
CH
Lee
Dong Hee
DH
D000821:Animal Feed; D000818:Animals; D019440:Anti-Obesity Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D004041:Dietary Fats / Q000378:metabolism; D004435:Eating / Q000187:drug effects*; D008055:Lipids / Q000096:biosynthesis; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000187:drug effects; D013654:Taurine / Q000494:pharmacology*
D019440:Anti-Obesity Agents; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D004041:Dietary Fats; D008055:Lipids; C504939:tub-1 protein, C elegans; D013654:Taurine
Semin Cell Dev Biol. 2002 Aug;13(4):263-70
12243725
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2002 Apr 30;99(9):5854-9
11972048
J Comp Neurol. 1977 Apr 1;172(3):489-510
838889
WormBook. 2007 Mar 09;:1-20
18050496
Exp Gerontol. 2002 Dec;37(12):1359-69
12559405
Nature. 2009 Jan 8;457(7226):210-4
19052547
Cell Metab. 2005 Jul;2(1):35-42
16054097
Science. 2008 Nov 7;322(5903):957-60
18988854
Genetics. 2007 Jun;176(2):865-75
17435249
Trends Neurosci. 2005 Dec;28(12):644-52
16203044
Physiol Rev. 2006 Apr;86(2):465-514
16601267
Mol Biol Cell. 2006 Oct;17(10):4318-29
16870706
Mol Biol Cell. 2007 Mar;18(3):995-1008
17202409
Development. 2004 Apr;131(8):1777-86
15084462
Amino Acids. 2004 Jun;26(3):267-71
15221507
J Lipid Res. 2006 Mar;47(3):467-75
16401880
Mol Genet Metab. 2008 Apr;93(4):388-97
18178500
Nature. 2003 Jan 16;421(6920):268-72
12529643
Trends Genet. 2003 Oct;19(10):523-5
14550624
Nat Chem Biol. 2006 Nov;2(11):584-90
17051234
Cell Metab. 2007 Sep;6(3):195-207
17767906
Curr Opin Lipidol. 2006 Jun;17(3):274-8
16680032
Dev Cell. 2003 Jan;4(1):131-42
12530969
Endocrinology. 2006 Jul;147(7):3276-84
16627576
Genes Dev. 2006 May 1;20(9):1137-49
16651656
Nat Rev Genet. 2007 Jun;8(6):473-9
17486120
Cell. 2003 Apr 18;113(2):159-70
12705865
Nat Genet. 2006 Mar;38(3):363-8
16462744