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

Abstract

The present study was conducted to investigate the beneficial effects of taurine (TAU) on glucose and lipid metabolism and its positive roles in the correction of oxidative stress diabetes-related complications in STZ diabetic rats. Diabetic rats showed significant (P<0.05) increase in the levels of glucose, HbA1c, AST, ALT, LDH, liver and kidney weights, urea, uric acid, creatinine and significant decrease in the levels of body and pancreas weights, insulin, pancreatic amylase, hexokinase, liver and muscle glycogen, total protein, albumin, antioxidant enzymes and HDL-C. Also, higher levels of cholesterol, TG, total lipids, LDL-C and MDA were noticed in diabetic rats. The taurine administration (50 mg/kg) showed antihyperglycemic effect as indicated by reduced glucose levels, HbA1c and improved insulin level and carbohydrate hydrolyzing enzymes. In addition, taurine supplementation normalized liver function and inhibited lipid prfile alterations while, kidney weight, urea, creatinine, uric acid, total protein and albumin levels were partially improved. The obtained results revealed that taurine exhibited an inhibitory effect on oxidative stress indices (MDA) and partially improved antioxidantlevels. Taurine could have potential as a pharmaceutical drug for diabetes mellitus (DM). Additional study is needed to investigate whether taurine has the same beneficial effects in human diabetic patients.