title: Characterization of taurine as anti-obesity agent in C. elegans.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences, University of Seoul, Dongdaemun-Gu, Seoul, 130-743, Korea. gpals819@naver.com
authors.forename: Hye Min
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Chang-Hee
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Do
authors.forename: Dong Hee
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: 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*
chemical_list: D019440:Anti-Obesity Agents; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D004041:Dietary Fats; D008055:Lipids; C504939:tub-1 protein, C elegans; D013654:Taurine
references.citation: Semin Cell Dev Biol. 2002 Aug;13(4):263-70
references.pmid: 12243725
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2002 Apr 30;99(9):5854-9
references.pmid: 11972048
references.citation: J Comp Neurol. 1977 Apr 1;172(3):489-510
references.pmid: 838889
references.citation: WormBook. 2007 Mar 09;:1-20
references.pmid: 18050496
references.citation: Exp Gerontol. 2002 Dec;37(12):1359-69
references.pmid: 12559405
references.citation: Nature. 2009 Jan 8;457(7226):210-4
references.pmid: 19052547
references.citation: Cell Metab. 2005 Jul;2(1):35-42
references.pmid: 16054097
references.citation: Science. 2008 Nov 7;322(5903):957-60
references.pmid: 18988854
references.citation: Genetics. 2007 Jun;176(2):865-75
references.pmid: 17435249
references.citation: Trends Neurosci. 2005 Dec;28(12):644-52
references.pmid: 16203044
references.citation: Physiol Rev. 2006 Apr;86(2):465-514
references.pmid: 16601267
references.citation: Mol Biol Cell. 2006 Oct;17(10):4318-29
references.pmid: 16870706
references.citation: Mol Biol Cell. 2007 Mar;18(3):995-1008
references.pmid: 17202409
references.citation: Development. 2004 Apr;131(8):1777-86
references.pmid: 15084462
references.citation: Amino Acids. 2004 Jun;26(3):267-71
references.pmid: 15221507
references.citation: J Lipid Res. 2006 Mar;47(3):467-75
references.pmid: 16401880
references.citation: Mol Genet Metab. 2008 Apr;93(4):388-97
references.pmid: 18178500
references.citation: Nature. 2003 Jan 16;421(6920):268-72
references.pmid: 12529643
references.citation: Trends Genet. 2003 Oct;19(10):523-5
references.pmid: 14550624
references.citation: Nat Chem Biol. 2006 Nov;2(11):584-90
references.pmid: 17051234
references.citation: Cell Metab. 2007 Sep;6(3):195-207
references.pmid: 17767906
references.citation: Curr Opin Lipidol. 2006 Jun;17(3):274-8
references.pmid: 16680032
references.citation: Dev Cell. 2003 Jan;4(1):131-42
references.pmid: 12530969
references.citation: Endocrinology. 2006 Jul;147(7):3276-84
references.pmid: 16627576
references.citation: Genes Dev. 2006 May 1;20(9):1137-49
references.pmid: 16651656
references.citation: Nat Rev Genet. 2007 Jun;8(6):473-9
references.pmid: 17486120
references.citation: Cell. 2003 Apr 18;113(2):159-70
references.pmid: 12705865
references.citation: Nat Genet. 2006 Mar;38(3):363-8
references.pmid: 16462744