Abstract

Taurine is an agent for treating the heavy metal intoxication and presence of metals such as zinc, copper, and iron may have a role in heavy metal toxicity, a study was undertaken to investigate the effect of taurine on the toxicity of zinc in male Wistar rats. The rats were divided into 8 groups and fed different diets with or without supplement of 5% taurine and 150 to 600 ppm zinc for 2 mo. It was found that the body weight of rats, the ratios of liver and kidney weight to body weight, and the level of glutathione in the liver were decreased with increasing the dose of zinc. The levels of zinc in the liver, kidney, and plasma, the levels of malondialdehyde in the plasma, the levels of thiobarbiture acid-reactive substances in the liver, the activities of aspartate transaminase, alanine transaminase in the plasma, the levels of blood urea nitrogen and creatinine in the plasma of rats were increased with the increasing dose of zinc. Hence, symptoms of zinc toxicity in rats included loss of body weight, hepatotoxicity, and nephrotoxicity. However, these toxic effects of zinc were significantly reduced when the rats fed diet with supplement of taurine. Furthermore, the level of zinc in the feces of rats treated with taurine and zinc was higher than that of rats treated with zinc alone. It indicated that taurine thereby leading to a decreased absorption of dietary zinc and promoted excretion.

Links

Publisher Full Text

Authors

Yeh YH, Lee YT, Hsieh YL, Hwang DF

Institution

School of Health Diet and Industry Management, Chung Shan Medical Univ. and Chung Shan Medical Univ. Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan, ROC. yhyeh@csmu.edu.tw

Source

Journal of food science 76:4 2011 May pg T90-8

MeSH

Alanine Transaminase
Animals
Aspartate Aminotransferases
Blood Urea Nitrogen
Body Weight
Creatinine
Kidney
Liver
Male
Malondialdehyde
Metals, Heavy
Poisoning
Rats
Rats, Wistar
Taurine
Zinc

Pub Type(s)

Journal Article

Language

eng

PubMed ID

22417375