Effect of taurine on intestinal recovery following intestinal ischemia-reperfusion injury in a rat.
OBJECTIVE
Taurine (TAU) is a sulfur-containing amino acid that is involved in a diverse array of biological and physiological functions, including bile salt conjugation, osmoregulation, membrane stabilization, calcium modulation, anti-oxidation, and immunomodulation. Several studies have established that treatment with TAU significantly protects cerebral, cardiac and testicular injury from ischemia-reperfusion (IR). The purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of TAU on intestinal recovery and enterocyte turnover after intestinal IR injury in rats.


METHODS
Male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into four experimental groups: (1) Sham rats that underwent laparotomy, (2) Sham-TAU rats that underwent laparotomy and were treated with intraperitoneal (IP) TAU (250 mg/kg); (3) IR-rats that underwent occlusion of both superior mesenteric artery and portal vein for 30 min followed by 48 h of reperfusion, and (4) IR-TAU rats that underwent IR and were treated with IP TAU (250 mg/kg) immediately before abdominal closure. Intestinal structural changes, Park's injury score, enterocyte proliferation and enterocyte apoptosis were determined 24 h following IR. The expression of Bax, Bcl-2, p-ERK and caspase-3 in the intestinal mucosa was determined using Western blot and immunohistochemistry.


RESULTS
Treatment with TAU resulted in a significant decrease in Park's injury score compared to IR animals. IR-TAU rats also demonstrated a significant increase in mucosal weight in jejunum and ileum, villus height in jejunum and ileum and crypt depth in ileum compared to IR animals. IR-TAU rats also experienced significantly lower apoptotic indices in jejunum and ileum which was accompanied by a higher Bcl-2/Bax ratio compared to IR animals.


CONCLUSIONS
Treatment with taurine prevents gut mucosal damage and inhibits intestinal epithelial cell apoptosis following intestinal IR in a rat.
Laboratory of Intestinal Adaptation and Recovery, The Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel. igor-dr@internet-zahav.net.|Department of Pediatric Surgery, Bnai Zion Medical Center, 47 Golomb St., P.O.B. 4940, Haifa, 31048, Israel. igor-dr@internet-zahav.net.
I
I
Sukhotnik
Laboratory of Intestinal Adaptation and Recovery, The Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.|Department of Pediatric Surgery, Bnai Zion Medical Center, 47 Golomb St., P.O.B. 4940, Haifa, 31048, Israel.
I
I
Aranovich
Laboratory of Intestinal Adaptation and Recovery, The Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.|Department of Surgery, Carmel Medical Center, Haifa, Israel.
Y
Y
Ben Shahar
Laboratory of Intestinal Adaptation and Recovery, The Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
N
N
Bitterman
Laboratory of Intestinal Adaptation and Recovery, The Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
Y
Y
Pollak
Department of Gastroenterology, Bnai Zion Medical Center, Haifa, Israel.
D
D
Berkowitz
Laboratory of Intestinal Adaptation and Recovery, The Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
D
D
Chepurov
Section of Pediatric Surgery, C.S. Mott Children's Hospital, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
A G
AG
Coran
Department of Surgery, Carmel Medical Center, Haifa, Israel.
A
A
Bitterman
D000818:Animals; D015153:Blotting, Western; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D007422:Intestines / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D020127:Recovery of Function / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D015427:Reperfusion Injury / Q000517:prevention & control*; D013654:Taurine / Q000494:pharmacology*
D013654:Taurine
Apoptosis; Intestine; Ischemia-reperfusion; Proliferation; Taurine