Taurine ameliorates chronic streptozocin-induced diabetic
nephropathy in rats.
Trachtman, Howard, Stephen Futterweit, John Maesaka, Chan Ma, Elsa
Valderrama, Alexander Fuchs, Antonio A. Tarectecan, Parinam S. Rao,
John A. Sturman, Tammy H. Boles, Min-Xin Fu & John Baynes.
Department of Pediatrics (Division of Nephrology), Schneider
Children's Hospital, Departments of Medicine, Pathology and
Cardiothoracic Surgery, Long Island Jewish Medical Center, Long
Island Campus for the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New Hyde
Park, NY; Department of Developmental Biochemistry, Institute for
Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities, Staten Island, NY; &
Department of Chemistry, University of South Carolina, Columbia
SC
APStracts 2:0050F, 1995.
We examined the effect of two endogenous antioxidant agents, taurine
and vitamin E, on renal function in experimental diabetes. Male
Sprague-Dawley rats, rendered diabetic with streptozocin (STZ), were
assigned to one of the following groups; (1) untreated; (2) insulin
treatment, 6 U ultralente insulin/day in two doses; (3) taurine
supplementation, 1% taurine drinking water; and (4) vitamin E
supplementation, 100 IU vitamin E/kg chow. Animals were kept for 52
weeks. The survival rate was similar (70-90%) in all groups except
vitamin E-treated animals, among whom 84% died by 6 months. At 52
weeks, glomerular filtration rate was elevated in untreated and
taurine-treated STZ rats compared to normal or insulin-treated
diabetic rats. Taurine supplementation reduced total proteinuria and
albuminuria by nearly 50%. This treatment also prevented glomerular
hypertrophy, preserved immunohistochemical staining for type IV
collagen in glomeruli and diminished glomerulosclerosis and
tubulointerstitial fibrosis in diabetic animals. The changes in renal
function and structure in taurine-treated diabetic rats were
associated with normalization of renal cortical malondialdehyde
content, lowering of serum free Fe++ concentration, and decreased
formation of the advanced glyco-oxidation products, pentosidine and
fluorescence, in skin collagen. Administration of the vitamin E
-enriched diet exacerbated the nephropathy in STZ-diabetic rats. In
addition, vitamin E-supplementation increased serum free Fe++
concentration, enhanced renal lipid peroxidation, and accelerated the
accumulation of advanced glycosylation end products (AGEs) in skin
collagen. We conclude that administration of taurine, but not vitamin
E, to rats with STZ-diabetes, ameliorates diabetic nephropathy. The
beneficial effect of taurine is related to reduced renal oxidant
injury with decreased lipid peroxidation and less accumulation of
AGEs within the kidney.
Received 4 October 1994; accepted in final form 22 March 1995.
APS Manuscript Number F353-4.
Article publication pending Am. J. Physiol. (Renal Fluid Electrolyte
Physiology).
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1995 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 19 April 1995.