Scavenging and antioxidant potential of physiological taurine concentrations against different reactive oxygen/nitrogen species

Abstract

While several studies have been conducted on the antioxidant properties of the beta-amino acid taurine, these studies all used concentrations lower than what is found physiologically. This study investigates the scavenging and antioxidant properties of physiological taurine concentrations against different reactive species. No reactivity between taurine and hydrogen peroxide was found; however, taurine exhibited significant scavenging potential against peroxyl radical, nitric oxide, and superoxide donors. This study also evaluated if taurine was able to minimize the in vitro CuZn-superoxide dismutase damage (SOD) induced by peroxynitrite. Taurine prevented both the formation of nitrotyrosine adducts and the decrease in SOD activity caused by peroxynitrite. In addition, taurine prevented the ex vivo damage caused by tert-butyl hydroperoxide in rat liver slices. These experimental data show that taurine, at different physiological concentrations efficiently scavenges many reactive oxygen and nitrogen species. This finding supports the hypothesis that the antioxidant properties of taurine may be critical for the maintenance of cellular functions, and it suggests a more important function of taurine that requires further investigation.

Influence of dietary taurine and housing density on oviduct function in laying hens

“…Dietary taurine supplementation increased SOD activities in the free range hens. These results are consistent with several other studies showing that taurine has an anti-oxidant role (Lakshmi Devi and Anuradha, 2010;Oliveira et al, 2010).…”

Cytoprotective Effects of Taurine Against Toxicity Induced by Isoniazid and Hydrazine in Isolated Rat Hepatocytes

“…However, taurine did protect normal rat liver cells against isoniazid and hydrazineinduced toxicity. These protective effects are associated with the scavenging of free radicals and prevention of GSH depletion (29,30), which might explain why it was not as effective in glutathione- depleted cells. Another reason for its ineffectiveness in glutathione-depleted cells is that the duration of treatment with taurine was not suffi cient to upregulate antioxidant enzymes in these cells.…”

The Effect of Taurine on Hepatic Steatosis Induced by Thioacetamide in Zebrafish (Danio rerio)

“…Considering that taurine is a very stable molecule, it may have a scavenger-type role against reactive oxygen species (ROS). In fact, it has been demonstrated that taurine inhibits lipoperoxidation induced by tert-butyl hydroperoxide in slices of rat liver and can protect thiol groups from oxidation [38].…”