Taurine protects against early and late skeletal muscle dysfunction secondary to ischaemia reperfusion injury.
THE EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF SURGERY = ACTA CHIRURGICA 2000;
166:375-9. [PMID:
10881947 DOI:
10.1080/110241500750008916]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/16/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE
To assess the efficacy of the cytoprotective B-amino acid taurine in prevention of skeletal muscle dysfunction secondary to ischaemia-reperfusion (IR) injury.
DESIGN
Randomised controlled animal study.
SETTING
Biomedical research laboratory, teaching hospital, Republic of Ireland.
ANIMALS
96 Sprague Dawley rats.
INTERVENTIONS
Rats were randomised into three groups (n = 24/group): control (sham); ischaemia-reperfusion (untreated); and ischaemia-reperfusion + taurine. A further 24 rats were given taurine alone. The rat cremaster skeletal muscle model of four hours of ischaemia followed by reperfusion was used. Taurine 4%wt/vol was given in the animals' water throughout the experiment, beginning 48 hours before the ischaemia was initiated.
OUTCOME MEASURES
8 rats were killed from each group and muscle contractile function was assessed using electrical field stimulation in a tissue bath at 24 hrs, 48 hrs and 7 days.
RESULTS
Ischaemia followed by 24 hours, 48 hours or 7 days of reperfusion resulted in significant reduction in both muscle twitch and tetanic contractile function (p < 0.05). This was reversed by taurine, which resulted in significant preservation of twitch and tetanic contractility at all time points including one week of reperfusion (p < 0.05). There was no difference in muscle function between muscle treated with taurine after ischaemia-reperfusion and control muscle, with the same operation but without ischaemia, from 48 hours onwards.
CONCLUSIONS
These data show that pharmaceutical use of the endogenous amino acid taurine, unlike many-other agents, protects electrophysiological function in skeletal muscle against both early and late ischaemia-reperfusion injury.
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