title: The effect of long-term taurine supplementation and fructose feeding on glucose and lipid homeostasis in Wistar rats.
abstract: The nonprotein amino acid taurine has been shown to counteract the negative effects of a high-fructose diet in rats with regard to insulin resistance and dyslipidemia. Here we examined the long-term (26 weeks) effects of oral taurine supplementation (2% in the drinking water) in fructose-fed Wistar rats.The combination of fructose and taurine caused a significant increase in fasting glucose compared to the control diet without changing hepatic phosphoenol pyruvate carboxykinase mRNA levels. The combination of fructose and taurine also improved glucose tolerance compared to control. Neither a high-fructose diet nor taurine supplementation induced significant changes in body weight, body fat or total calorie intake, fasting insulin levels, HOMA-IR, or insulin-induced Akt phosphorylation in skeletal muscle.Fructose alone caused a decrease in liver triglyceride content, with taurine supplementation preventing this. There was no effect of long-term fructose diet and/or taurine supplementation on plasma triglycerides, plasma nonesterified fatty acids, as well as plasma HDL, LDL, and total cholesterol.In conclusion, the study suggests that long-term taurine supplementation improves glucose tolerance and normalize hepatic triglyceride content following long-term fructose feeding. However, as the combination of taurine and fructose also increased fasting glucose levels, the beneficial effect of taurine supplementation towards amelioration of glucose intolerance and insulin resistance may be questionable.
authors: Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors: Lea Hüche
authors: LH
authors: Larsen
authors: Laura Kofoed Hvidsten
authors: LK
authors: Orstrup
authors: Svend Høime
authors: SH
authors: Hansen
authors: Niels
authors: N
authors: Grunnet
authors: Bjørn
authors: B
authors: Quistorff
authors: Ole Hartvig
authors: OH
authors: Mortensen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight / Q000187:drug effects; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D004327:Drinking Behavior / Q000187:drug effects; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000187:drug effects*; D005632:Fructose / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism*; D005951:Glucose Tolerance Test; D006706:Homeostasis / Q000187:drug effects*; D007328:Insulin / Q000378:metabolism; D050356:Lipid Metabolism / Q000187:drug effects*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects; D013654:Taurine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D007328:Insulin; D013654:Taurine; D005632:Fructose; D005947:Glucose