Taurine improves insulin sensitivity in the Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima Fatty rat, a model of spontaneous type 2 diabetes

Abstract

Taurine effectively improves metabolism in OLETF rats by decreasing serum cholesterol and triacylglycerol, presumably via increased secretion of cholesterol into bile acid and decreased production of cholesterol because of increased nitric oxide production.

Post-exercise taurine administration enhances glycogen repletion in tibialis anterior muscle

“…2B). This effect of taurine treatment is in agreement with some rodent studies that showed taurine administration attenuated the increase of blood glucose concentration during glucose tolerance testing [11][12][13][14][15][16][17] . In general, most glucose (>80%) is taken up by skeletal muscle 21) .…”

“…Glycogen repletion in skeletal muscle after exercise is one of the major determinants of performance during subsequent exercise since higher pre-exercise glycogen content in skeletal muscle resulted in improving performance during both prolonged endurance and high-intensity intermittent exercise [2][3][4][5] . Some rodent studies have shown the possibility that taurine administration enhances glucose uptake in tissues [11][12][13][14][15][16][17] , which is one of the limiting factors for glycogen synthesis in skeletal muscle. Therefore, we hypothesized that taurine administration enhanced postexercise glycogen repletion in skeletal muscle.…”

“…These results suggest that taurine administration has some positive effects during the post-exercise phase. Some rodent studies have demonstrated the possibility that taurine administration enhances glucose uptake, one of the rate-limiting factors for glycogen resynthesis in skeletal muscle [11][12][13][14][15][16][17] . Moreover, Kulakowski et al showed that a single dose of taurine was able to increase glycogen content in the liver at resting state in non-diabetic rats 11) .…”

Effect of taurine treatment on insulin secretion and action, and on serum lipid levels in overweight men with a genetic predisposition for type II diabetes mellitus

“…Anuradha and Balakrishnan (1999) found that adding taurine (2%) to the ad libitum drinking water of fructose-fed Wistar rats decreased the fructose-induced exaggerated glucose levels and hyperinsulinemia (Po0.05). The same observations were made by Nakaya et al (2000) when 5% taurine was added to the food of fructose-fed Otsuka Long Evans Tokushima Falty (OLETF) diabetic rats, resulting in less hyperglycemia and decreased insulin resistance. In a recent study by with fructose-fed insulin-resistant rats, an IVGTT showed an enhanced insulin action when a dose of taurine 2% w/w was added to drinking water.…”

“…We cannot Effect of taurine treatment on insulin secretion and action C Brøns et al exclude the possibility that this effect could have been found in the present study as well if diabetic subjects had been included. Several animal studies have shown that taurine has a beneficial effect on insulin sensitivity (Maturo & Kulakowski, 1988;Anuradha & Balakrishnan, 1999;Nakaya et al, 2000;. Human studies of type I and II diabetics have suggested that taurine has a glucose-lowering effect (Elizarova & Nedosugova, 1996;Franconi et al, 1996).…”