The Relationship between Plasma Taurine Levels and Diabetic Complications in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Abstract

Background: Taurine has an active role in providing glucose homeostasis and diabetes causes a decline in taurine levels. This paper investigates the relationship between taurine and diabetic complications, patients’ demographic features, and biochemical parameters. Methods: Fifty-nine patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and 28 healthy control subjects between the ages of 32 and 82 were included in the study. The mean age of subjects was 55.6 ± 10.3 and mean diabetes duration was 10.2 ± 6.0 years. The most commonly accompanying comorbidity was hypertension (HT) (64.5%, n = 38), and the most frequent diabetic complication was neuropathy (50.8%, n = 30). Plasma taurine concentrations were measured by an enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA) kit. Results: Plasma taurine concentrations were significantly lower in diabetic patients (0.6 ± 0.1 mmol/L) than controls (0.8 ± 0.2 mmol/L) and in hypertensive (0. 6 ± 0.1 mmol/L) patients (p = 0.000, p = 0.027 respectively). Conclusion: Plasma taurine levels were decreased in patients with T2DM and this was not related to FBG, HbA1c, and microalbuminuria. With regard to complications, we only found a correlation with neuropathy. We suggest that taurine levels may be more important in the development of diabetes; however, it may also have importance for the progression of the disease and the subsequent complications. We further assert that taurine measurement at different times may highlight whether there is a causal relationship in the development of complications.

Important roles of dietary taurine, creatine, carnosine, anserine and 4-hydroxyproline in human nutrition and health

“…ASBT apical sodium-dependent bile salt/acid transporter (in ileal enterocytes), BA bile acids (unconjugated), BSEP bile salt export pump, CBA conjugated bile acids, Gly glycine, GlyT glycine transporters, M3 multidrug resistance protein-3, MBSL microbial bile salt hydrolases, NTCP Na + -taurocholate cotransporting polypeptide, OATP organic anion transporting polypeptide family, OSTα/β organic solute transporter subunit α/β, PD passive diffusion, Tau taurine, TauT taurine transporters taurine can ameliorate structural abnormalities of the pancreas (Santos-Silva et al 2015), while improving insulin production by pancreatic β-cells (Nakatsuru et al 2018) and whole-body insulin sensitivity in subjects with hyperglycemia (Sarkar et al 2017). This role of taurine in diabetic patients are highly significant, because they have a 25% lower concentration of taurine in plasma than normal subjects (Sak et al 2019) and that the number of type-2 diabetic patients is increasing globally (Willet et al 2019). Taurine supplementation may also be needed for cancer patients maintained on total parenteral nutrition, because the concentration of taurine in their plasma is 50% lower than those in healthy subjects (Gray et al 1994).…”

The Anti-Inflammatory Effect of Taurine on Cardiovascular Disease

“…Arachidonic acid induces platelet aggregation [ 216 ]. In fact, taurine deficiency may be a risk factor for the development of type-2 diabetes, as taurine concentration is significantly lower in diabetic patients (n = 59, 0.2 to 0.9 mmol/L) with the common associated comorbidity, hypertension, compared to healthy subjects (n = 28, 0.5 to 1.2 mmol/L) [ 217 ]. As such, taurine supplementation may prevent and/or restore hyperglycemia and its associated comorbidity.…”

The effects of taurine supplementation on oxidative stress indices and inflammation biomarkers in patients with type 2 diabetes: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

“…Evidence suggests that taurine may be a conditionally essential amino acid in diseases associated with increased oxidative stress and inflammation, such as diabetes mellitus, obesity, metabolic syndrome, and atherosclerosis [9,12]. Several studies have found an inverse association between plasma taurine concentrations and fasting plasma sugar (FBS) as well as diabetes complications, suggesting taurine has a protective role in the progression of diabetes [13,14]. As a functional nutrient, taurine is involved in osmoregulation, detoxification, calcium homeostasis, neuromodulation, and cytoprotection [10,15,16].…”