The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of
arginine or -
taurine alone and
taurine plus
arginine on bone mineral density (BMD) and markers of bone formation and
bone resorption in growing female rats. Forty female SD rats (75 ± 5 g) were randomly divided into four groups (control,
taurine,
arginine,
taurine +
arginine group) and treatment lasted for 9 weeks. All rats were fed on a diet and deionized water. BMD and bone mineral content (BMC) were measured using PIXImus (GE Lunar Co, Wisconsin, USA) in spine and femur. The serum and urine concentrations of
calcium and
phosphorus were determined. Bone formation was measured by serum
osteocalcin and
alkaline phosphatase concentrations, and the
bone resorption rate was measured by
deoxypyridinoline cross-links. Femur BMD was significantly increased in the group with
taurine supplementation and femur BMC/weight was significantly increased in the group with
arginine +
taurine supplementation. Rats fed an
arginine or
taurine supplemental diet increased femur BMD or femur BMC, but a
taurine +
arginine-supplemented diet does not have a better effect than
arginine or
taurine alone in the spine BMD. The femur BMC, expressed per
body weight, was higher in
arginine +
taurine group than in the
taurine or
arginine group. The results of this study suggest that
taurine +
arginine supplementation may be beneficial on femur BMC in growing female rats. Additional work is needed to clarify the interactive effects between the
taurine and
arginine to determine whether dietary intakes of
arginine and
taurine affect bone quality in growing rats.