Taurine ameliorates hyperglycemia and dyslipidemia by reducing insulin resistance and leptin level in Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima fatty (OLETF) rats with long-term diabetes

Abstract

This study aimed to determine whether taurine supplementation improves metabolic disturbances and diabetic complications in an animal model for type 2 diabetes. We investigated whether taurine has therapeutic effects on glucose metabolism, lipid metabolism, and diabetic complications in Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima fatty (OLETF) rats with long-term duration of diabetes. Fourteen 50-week-old OLETF rats with chronic diabetes were fed a diet supplemented with taurine (2%) or a non-supplemented control diet for 12 weeks. Taurine reduced blood glucose levels over 12 weeks, and improved OGTT outcomes at 6 weeks after taurine supplementation, in OLETF rats. Taurine significantly reduced insulin resistance but did not improve β-cell function or islet mass. After 12 weeks, taurine significantly decreased serum levels of lipids such as triglyceride, cholesterol, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, and low density lipoprotein cholesterol. Taurine significantly reduced serum leptin, but not adiponectin levels. However, taurine had no therapeutic effect on damaged tissues. Taurine ameliorated hyperglycemia and dyslipidemia, at least in part, by improving insulin sensitivity and leptin modulation in OLETF rats with long-term diabetes. Additional study is needed to investigate whether taurine has the same beneficial effects in human diabetic patients.

Maternal taurine supplementation attenuates maternal fructose-induced metabolic and inflammatory dysregulation and partially reverses adverse metabolic programming in offspring

“…Our study confirms these published findings and for the first time extends them to a pregnancy setting. The mechanisms underpinning taurine-mediated reversal of IR remain largely unknown, and although not examined in the current study, others have hypothesized that the effect might be due to taurine's antioxidative properties and/or by regulating glucosestimulated insulin secretion via Ca 2+ mobilization [33,35].…”

“…While IR is a normally physiologic state gradually developed in pregnancy, excessive IR during pregnancy is strongly associated with gestational diabetes and preeclampsia [29,30], both of which can lead to severe adverse pregnancy outcomes and negative long-term effects on both mothers and offspring [31,32]. Studies by others have shown that taurine supplementation can attenuate IR in spontaneously diabetic rats and fructose-induced hyperglycemic rodent models [17,33,34]. Our study confirms these published findings and for the first time extends them to a pregnancy setting.…”

Carotid Artery Stenosis is Exacerbated in Spontaneously Obese Model Rats with Diabetes

“…Although we did not examine the serum insulin or adiponectin levels in this study, a previous study reported high HbA1c, blood serum insulin, cholesterol and adiponectin values in OLETF rats 14) . The lack of assessment of these parameters is a limitation of this study.…”

Taurine Modulates Hyperglycemia-Mediated Oxidative Stress and Protects Hepatocytes in Experimental Diabetes

“…Taurine has also demonstrated to have hypoglycemic effects producing a decrease in the concentrations of glucose and fructosamine as well as an increase in the contents of insulin, C-peptide, and glycogen in the liver [50]. Kim et al [51] reported that taurine ameliorated hyperglycemia by improving insulin sensitivity in OLETF rats with long-term diabetes. Decreased HbA1c levels in the TAU treated diabetic rats could be due to an improvement in insulin secretion from the remnant pancreatic β-cells in diabetic rats, consequently, resulting in improvement in glycemic control [47].…”