Abstract
Alcohol consumption by mothers during pregnancy causes a fetal alcohol syndrome associated with massive neuronal apoptosis. We have recently shown that taurine at a dose of 2 g/kg saves about 50% of dying cerebellar neurons from ethanol-induced apoptosis in 7-day-old mice. However, a further increase in the taurine dose to ethanol-treated mice had a toxic and in some cases lethal effect. In the present work we studied the toxic effects of taurine and ethanol coadministration in three age groups: 7-day-old, adult (5 to 6 months old), and old (12 to 13 months old) mice. Taurine and ethanol were injected in two half-doses: taurine at 0 and 4 h and ethanol at 1 and 3 h. The minimal 100% lethal doses in coadministration of taurine and ethanol were the following: 7-day-old mice—6 g/kg taurine + 5 g/kg ethanol, adult mice—10 g/kg of taurine + 8 g/kg of ethanol, and old mice—above 6 g/kg of taurine + 6 g/kg of ethanol. All mice treated with taurine or ethanol alone survived. The adult and old mice dying from the combined toxicity of taurine and ethanol showed a marked fall in blood glucose, which may be one reason for lethality. A comparison of the lethal doses of taurine and ethanol coadministration in different age groups allows us to conclude that the adverse effect of the combined toxicity of taurine and ethanol is age dependent.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Anderzhanova E, Saransaari P, Oja SS (2006) Neuroprotective mechanisms of taurine in vivo. Adv Exp Med Biol 583:377–387
Birdsall TC (1998) Therapeutic application of taurine. Altern Med Rev 3:128–136
Chudley AE, Conry J, Cook JL, Loock C, Rosales T, LeBlanc N (2005) Public Health Agency of Canada’s National Advisory Committee on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder: Canadian guidelines for diagnosis. Can Med Ass J 172(5 Suppl):S1–S21
Das J, Ghosh J, Manna P, Sinha M, Sil PC (2009) Taurine protects rat testes against NaAsO2 -induced oxidative stress and apoptosis via mitochondrial dependent and independent pathways. Toxicol Lett 187:201–210
Dikranian K, Qin YQ, Labruyere J, Nemmers B, Olney JW (2005) Ethanol-induced neuroapoptosis in the developing rodent cerebellum and related brain stem structures. Brain Res Dev Brain Res 155:1–13
Eustace LW, Kang DH, Coombs D (2003) Fetal alcohol syndrome: a growing concern for health care professionals. J Obstet Gynecol Neonatal Nurs 32:215–221
Farber NB, Creeley CE, Olney JW (2010) Alcohol-induced neuroapoptosis in the fetal macaque brain. Neurobiol Dis 40:200–206
Goldberg AA, Jefferies HS (1946) Potentiation of insulin hypoglycaemia by nicotinyl taurine (beta-nicotinamidoethanesulphonic acid). Q J Pharm Pharmacol 19:48–53
Hao HN, Parker GC, Zhao J, Barami K, Lyman WD (2003) Differential responses of human neural and hematopoietic stem cells to ethanol exposure. J Hematother Stem Cell Res 12:389–399
Hotchkiss RS, Strasser A, McDunn JE, Swanson PE (2009) Cell death. N Engl J Med 361:1570–1583
Huang Z, Sjöholm A (2008) Ethanol acutely stimulates islet blood flow, amplifies insulin secretion, and induces hypoglycemia via nitric oxide and vagally mediated mechanisms. Endocrinology 149:232–236
Huxtable RJ (1992) Physiological actions of taurine. Physiol Rev 72:101–163
Ikonomidou C, Bittigau P, Ishimaru MJ, Wozniak DF, Koch C, Genz K, Price MT, Stefovska V, Hörster F, Tenkova T, Dikranian K, Olney JW (2000) Ethanol-induced apoptotic neurodegeneration and fetal alcohol syndrome. Science 287:1056–1060
Kaplan B, Karabay G, Zağyapan RD, Ozer C, Sayan H, Duyar I (2004) Effects of taurine in glucose and taurine administration. Amino Acids 27:327–333
Kihara K, Yasugi D, Kuwahara Y, Kakigi K, Isaka K, Tsuji K, Hagino T, Kuroda S, Habuchi M, Ishigami M, Fujii R, Hasegawa M, Araki H (1991) Single dose toxicity study of taurine in rat. Jpn Pharamcol Ther 19:263–268
Kulakowski EC, Maturo J (1984) Hypoglycemic properties of taurine: not mediated by enhanced insulin release. Biochem Pharmacol 33:2835–2838
Lallemand F, De Witte P (2004) Taurine concentration in the brain and in the plasma following intraperitoneal injections. Amino Acids 26:111–116
Lourenco R, Camilo ME (2002) Taurine: a conditionally essential amino acid in humans? An overview in health and disease. Nutr Hosp 17:262–270
Nakagawa K, Kuriyama K (1975) Effect of taurine on alteration in adrenal functions induced by stress. Jpn J Pharmacol 25:737–746
Nishizawa Y, Yamamuro H, Kikumori M, Toda T, Araki H (1991) Single dose toxicity study of an intravenous treatment with taurine in dog. Jpn Pharmacol Ther 19:269–274
Oja SS, Saransaari P (2007) Pharmacology of taurine. Proc West Pharmacol Soc 50:8–15
Saransaari P, Oja SS (2000) Taurine and neural cell damage. Amino Acids 19:509–526
Schechter MD, Meehan SM (1995) The lethal effects of ethanol and cocaine and their combination in mice: implications for cocaethylene formation. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 52:245–248
Sturman JA (1993) Taurine in development. Physiol Rev 73:119–147
Takatani T, Takahashi K, Uozumi Y, Shikata E, Yamamoto Y, Ito T, Matsuda T, Schaffer SW, Fujio Y, Azuma J (2004) Taurine inhibits apoptosis by preventing formation of the Apaf-1/caspase-9 apoptosome. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol 287:C949–C953
Taranukhin A, Taranukhina E, Saransaari P, Djatchkova I, Pelto-Huikko M, Oja SS (2008) Taurine reduces caspase-8 and caspase-9 expression induced by ischemia in the mouse hypothalamic nuclei. Amino Acids 34:169–174
Taranukhin A, Taranukhina E, Saransaari P, Djatchkova I, Pelto-Huikko M, Oja SS (2009) Taurine protects immature cerebellar granule neurons against acute alcohol administration. Adv Exp Med Biol 643:159–167
Taranukhin AG, Taranukhina EY, Saransaari P, Podkletnova IM, Pelto-Huikko M, Oja SS (2010) Neuroprotection by taurine in ethanol-induced apoptosis in the developing cerebellum. J Biomed Sci 17(Suppl 1):S12
Taranukhin AG, Taranukhina EY, Saransaari P, Pelto-Huikko M, Podkletnova IM, Oja SS (2012) Taurine protects cerebellar neurons of the external granular layer against ethanol-induced apoptosis in 7-day-old mice. Amino Acids. doi:10.1007/s00726-012-1254-6
Ulrich-Merzenich G, Zeitler H, Vetter H, Bhonde RR (2007) Protective effects of taurine on endothelial cells impaired by high glucose and oxidized low density lipoproteins. Eur J Nutr 46:431–438
Warren KR, Bast RJ (1988) Alcohol-related birth defects: an update. Public Health Rep 103:638–642
Wiberg GS, Trenholm HL, Coldwell BB (1970) Increased ethanol toxicity in old rats: changes in LD50, in vivo and in vitro metabolism, and liver alcohol dehydrogenase activity. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol 16:718–727
Wu JY, Wu H, Jin Y, Wei J, Sha D, Prentice H, Lee HH, Lin CH, Lee YH, Yang LL (2009) Mechanism of neuroprotective function of taurine. Adv Exp Med Biol 643:169–179
Zhang B, Yang X, Gao X (2010) Taurine protects against bilirubin-induced neurotoxicity in vitro. Brain Res 1320:159–167
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by the competitive research funding of the Pirkanmaa Hospital District, the Maud Kuistila Memorial Foundation, and the Finnish Foundation for Alcohol Studies. We thank Dr. Tiina Solakivi who offered invaluable help with blood glucose determinations.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this paper
Cite this paper
Taranukhin, A.G., Saransaari, P., Oja, S.S. (2013). Lethality of Taurine and Alcohol Coadministration in Mice. In: El Idrissi, A., L'Amoreaux, W. (eds) Taurine 8. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 776. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6093-0_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6093-0_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-6092-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-6093-0
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)