Taurine has several biological processes such as
hypoglycemic action, antioxidation, detoxification, etc. To assess the effect of
taurine administration on the guinea pigs with
hyperglycemia,
blood glucose,
C-peptide levels together with morphologic alterations in the pancreatic ultrastructure were investigated in terms of
hypoglycemic action and
malondialdehyde and total sulfhydryl group levels with regard to oxidation-antioxidation relation. Animals were divided into four groups of six.
Glucose supplementation group was administrated a single dose of
glucose (400 mg/kg, i.p.) injection.
Glucose and
taurine supplementation group was administrated
glucose treatment (a single dose, 400 mg/kg, i.p.) following
taurine (a single dose, 200 mg/kg, i.p.).
Taurine and
glucose supplementation group was administered
taurine treatment (a single dose, 200 mg/kg, i.p.) following
glucose treatment (a single dose, 400 mg/kg, i.p.). Control animals received no treatment. Blood samples were collected at the end of the experiments for the determination of
glucose,
C-peptide (
indicator of insulin secretion), lipid peroxidation (
thiobarbituric acid reactive substances), and total sulfhydryl groups levels. Pancreatic tissue samples were then collected and processed for transmission electron microscopy. The findings showed that
glucose supplementation following
taurine administration significantly decreased
blood glucose level by increasing
C-peptide level and the pancreatic secretion stimulated morphologically and insignificantly changed
thiobarbituric acid reactive substances and total sulfhydryl group levels. These observations suggest that
taurine administration may be useful in
hyperglycemia because of its
hypoglycemic and protective effects.