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Diet-induced glucose homeostasis dysregulation is enhanced by taurine supplementation in ovariectomized mice

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Abstract

Low levels of estrogens are associated with obesity-related comorbidities. Mice with lower levels of estrogens are thereby more sensitive to the effects of a high-fat-diet (HFD) for the development of glucose intolerance and insulin resistance. Studies in vivo have demonstrated that taurine (TAU) supplementation prevents glucose and insulin resistance. Thus, we aimed to investigate the potential beneficial effects of TAU supplementation on glucose homeostasis of mice with low levels of estrogens fed with a HFD. 3-month-old female C57BL/6J mice underwent bilateral ovariectomy (OVX). After 1 week of recovery, mice were divided into 4 groups and either received: a standard chow diet (OVXC), chow diet plus drinking water enriched with 3% of TAU (OVXCT), HFD (OVXH), and HFD plus supplementation of TAU (OVXHT) for 14 weeks. Exposure to the HFD increased adiposity and plasma levels of glucose and insulin. Contrary to our prediction, the addition of TAU enhanced the deleterious effects of the HFD. Glucose and insulin tolerance tests (ipGTT and ipITT) indicated that mice maintained on the HFD + TAU had worse glucose intolerance and insulin resistance that was linked to lower insulin signaling in skeletal muscle and liver. Insulin secretion of isolated pancreatic islets of OVXH mice was higher than OVXC, and the addition of TAU associated with a HFD did not modulate insulin secretion, suggesting a failure of pancreatic β cells of OVXHT mice. These results suggest that despite the beneficial reports of TAU, it should be used cautiously in situations where the levels of estrogens are low.

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Acknowledgements

This material was based upon work supported by Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP), under Grants 2012/50430-9 and 2013/07607-8.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Obesity and Comorbidities Research Center (OCRC), Institute of Biology, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brazil

    Roberta de Souza Santos, Rafael L. Camargo, Emerielle C. Vanzela, Thiago M. Batista, Priscila N. Morato, Nayara C. Leite, Juliana C. Rovani, Marta García-Arévalo & Everardo M. Carneiro

  2. Diabetes and Obesity Research Division, Biomedical Research Department, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, 8700 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA, 90048, USA

    Roberta de Souza Santos, Rafael L. Camargo & Deborah J. Clegg

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  1. Roberta de Souza Santos
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  2. Rafael L. Camargo
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  3. Emerielle C. Vanzela
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  4. Thiago M. Batista
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  5. Priscila N. Morato
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  7. Juliana C. Rovani
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  10. Everardo M. Carneiro
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Contributions

OVX and subsequent post-operative care was performed by RSS. Experiments were designed by RSS, TMB, RLC, PNM and MGA. In vivo and ex vivo experiments were performed by RSS, RLC, TMB, PNM, NCL and JCR. Western blotting was performed by ECV and RLC. Statistics was performed by RSS. RSS, DJC and EMC prepared the manuscript. All authors discussed and reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Roberta de Souza Santos.

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Handling Editor: P. R. Jungblut.

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726_2017_2533_MOESM1_ESM.tif

Suppl. Fig. 1. Imaging and computed reconstruction of visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue through micro-CT scan. Representative images of transversal sections taken between L5 and L6 (A), and coronal plane (B). The less dense adipose tissue appears as darker gray than more dense organs such as muscle, bone and others

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de Souza Santos, R., Camargo, R.L., Vanzela, E.C. et al. Diet-induced glucose homeostasis dysregulation is enhanced by taurine supplementation in ovariectomized mice. Amino Acids 50, 469–477 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00726-017-2533-z

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