Abstract
Perinatal taurine exposure influences renal function in adult female offspring. This study tests the hypothesis that prenatal rather than postnatal taurine exposure alters renal function in adult conscious male rats. Female Sprague Dawley rats were fed normal rat chow and tap water alone (Control), tap water containing 3% β-alanine (taurine depletion, TD) or tap water containing 3% taurine (taurine supplementation, TS) either from conception until delivery (fetal period; TDF or TSF) or from delivery until weaning (lactation period; TDL or TSL). After weaning, male offspring were fed with the normal rat chow and tap water ad libitum. At 7-8 weeks of age, renal function was studied in conscious, restrained rats. Mean arterial pressures were slightly higher in rats receiving taurine supplementation during either the fetal or lactation periods (compared to Control and TD groups), but heart rates were not significantly different among groups. Effective renal blood flows were lower in TDF, TDL, and TSF rats (TDF 4.6±0.8 ml/min/g kidney weight (KW), TDL 3.0±0.9 ml/min/g KW, and TSF 2.8±0.7 ml/min/g KW) than in TSL (7.7±0.9 ml/min/g KW) or Control rats (7.3±1.6 ml/min/g KW). These differences were correlated with significant increases in renal vascular resistance in TDF, TDL, and TSF groups compared to TSL and Control rats. In contrast, glomerular filtration rates were not significantly different among groups. Although basal water and sodium excretion were slightly lower in TDL and TSF rats compared to other groups, their diuretic and natriuretic responses to an acute saline load were not different from Control. The present data indicate that in adult male rats, both perinatal supplementation and depletion of taurine can alter renal hemodynamics, and these effects are differentially time-dependent.
Highlights
Taurine, 2-aminoethanesulfonic acid, is present at a high concentration in many organs including liver, brain, heart, kidneys, and reproductive organs [1]
Compared to control (7.3±1.6 ml/min/g KW), effective renal blood flows significantly decreased in TDL and TSF but not in TDF and TSL rats (Fig. 3)
These changes were inversely correlated with significant increases in renal vascular resistance in TDL and TSF, as well as a trend to increase in TDF groups (Fig. 4)
Summary
2-aminoethanesulfonic acid, is present at a high concentration in many organs including liver, brain, heart, kidneys, and reproductive organs [1]. Taurine content in various tissues is highest during the perinatal period, and it modestly declines with advancing age. Taurine is an essential b-amino acid in fetal development due to limitation of endogenous biosynthesis [3]. Perinatal taurine depletion induces multiple organ damage in neonates and adult rats. While the mechanisms underlying these adverse effects remain ambiguous, a decrease in b-amino acid taurine content likely leads to the adult disorder [3,4,5,6]. Renal dysfunction related to age, diabetes mellitus, hypertension and obesity are inversely correlated to body taurine content [7]. Taurine supplementation could prevent age-related renal damage, sugar-induced hypertension, ethanol-induced hypertension, and drug-induced diabetes [2,3,8,9,10]. A decrease in taurine content can be partly replenished by taurine supplementation or diets high in taurine like fish [7,11]
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