The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of dietary
taurine supplementation on plasma and liver
lipid content in ovariectomized (OVX) rats. Forty female Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into two groups, one that was OVX and the other
sham operated (
Sham). They were further divided into either control or
taurine supplemented dietary (2.0 g/100 g diet) subgroups. Plasma
lipids (Total
cholesterol, HDL-
cholesterol, and
Triglycerides) and liver
lipids were determined by using commercial kits (Wako Pure Chemical, Osaka).
LDL-cholsterol content was estimated by the equation of Fridewald et al (1972). There were no significant differences in
body weight gain and food intake between the OVX or controls rats that were either control or
taurine fed, but
body weight gain was higher in the OVX groups. Food intake and the food efficiency ratio were not significantly different between the dietary subgroups. The concentrations of plasma total
cholesterol and
triglycerides were lower in the
taurine, OVX group while the
HDL-cholesterol and the
LDL-cholesterol levels were not reduced in the two
taurine fed subgroups. There were no significant differences in liver
cholesterol and
triglyceride content between the control, OVX and the
taurine, OVX rats. There were no significant differences in the atherogenic index between control, OVX and
taurine, OVX groups. These results confirmed that
taurine exerts some beneficial effects on
hypercholesterolemia and
hypertriglyceridemia of the OVX rats.