Characterization of taurine as anti-obesity agent in C. elegans

Journal of Biomedical Science

Review

Chang-Hee Do¹  Hye Min Kim²  Dong Hee Lee² 

[1] College of Agriculture and Science, Chungnam National University, 305-764, Yuseong, Daejeon, Korea;Department of Life Sciences, University of Seoul, 130-743, Dongdaemun-Gu, Seoul, Korea;

关键词: Taurine;    Lipid Accumulation;    Lipid Biosynthesis;    Triglyceride Content;    Nematode Growth Medium;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1423-0127-17-S1-S33

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundTaurine plays an important role in reducing physiological stress. Recent studies indicated that taurine may serve as an anti-obesity agent at the cellular level. This study characterizes taurine’s potential anti-obesity function in C. elegans, which have become a popular in vivo model for understanding the regulatory basis of lipid biosynthesis and deposition.MethodsTwo strains of C. elegans were raised on a normal or high-fat diet: N2 (normal) and RB1600, a mutant in tub-1 that serves as a tubby homologue and functions parallel to the 3-ketoacyl-CoA thiolase gene (kat-1) in regulating lipid accumulation. Taurine’s effect on lipid deposition was characterized according to assays of Sudan black B staining, triglyceride content measurement, food consumption, and mobility comparison.ResultsWhen N2 was treated with taurine after the culture in the high-fat media, the worms showed lower lipid accumulation in the assays of the Sudan black B staining and the triglyceride quantification. The anti-obesity effect was less evident in the experiment for RB1600. When the amount of taurine was increased for the high-fat-diet-treated N2 strain, fat deposition decreased and mobility increased in a dose-dependent manner. In the food consumption assays, taurine did not cause a significant change in food intake.ConclusionsTaken together, these results strongly imply that taurine plays an important role in reducing fat deposition by modulating cellular pathways for lipid accumulation and stimulating mobility, but not the pathways for lipid biosynthesis and food intake.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Lee et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2010