The Protective Effect Of Taurine On The Toxic Acute Renal Injury In Rats And Its Possible Mechanisms

Objective To observe whether taurine provides the protective effect on gentamicin-induced toxic acute renal injury and approach its possible mechanisms.Methods Adult Wistar rats of both sexes were divided into 3 groups randomly. In each group , one half were male and the other half were female : (l)Taur (n=14) group: given intraperitoneal injection of GM(100mg/kg/day) for 7days , once a day; and given intraperitoneal injection of 10% taurine solution(7. 5ml/kg/day) 6 hours before each GM injection. (2)Gent group (n=14): given GM injection as the Taur group and given the same amount of saline instead of taurine; (3) Cont group (n=10): given the same amount of saline instead of GM and taurine; After collecting urine for 24 hours on the 4th and 7th day of the experiment, the rats were killed to observe the following:(1)renal function parameters including urine volume(UV), serum creatinine(SCr),blood urea nitrogen(BUN), creatinine clearance(CCr);(2)the level of malondialdehyde(MDA) , the activities of superoxide dismutase(SOD) and glutathione peroxidase(GSH-Px) in serum and kidney tissue;(3)renal histomorphological changes including histological grading by HE stain, electron microscopic examination and immunohistochemical expression of endothelin-1 in kidneys.Results (1)The UV, SCr and BUN levels of the Taur group were significantly lower than those of the Gent group (p<0. 05) , and the CCr level could be increased by taurine (p<0.05) . (2)MDA levels of serum and homogenate were obviously lower in Taur group than Gent group (p<0. 05) , while decrease of activities of SOD and GSH-Px was ameliorated by taurine (p<0.05 ) . (3)Microscopically, the Gent group revealed severe histopathological damages, while the Taur group revealed only mild changes (p<0. 01) . This finding was supported by electron microscopic examination. (4)Immuhohistochemically, theexpression of ET-1 in the Gent group both in medulla (p<0.01) and cortex (p<0.05) was much more obvious than that in the Taur group.Conclusion (1)Taurine is effective in protecting the kidneys and function of rats from gentamicin-induced acute renal injury. (2)The interaction between gentamicin and phospholipids of biological membranes, production of ROM and its induced lipid peroxidation, and increase of ET synthesis and release play an important role in pathogenesis of gentamicin-induced toxic acute renal injury, gentamicin-induced toxic acute renal injury is probably the result of the comprehensive effect of the above mechanisms. (3)Taurine may protect kidneys from gentamicin-induced acute renal injury by increasing the stability of biological membranes, reducing the production of ROM and weakening lipid peroxidation, inhibiting synthesis and release of ET.