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Taurine and Chinese Traditional Medicine Accelerate Alcohol Metabolism in Mice

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Taurine 8

Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((AEMB,volume 776))

Abstract

Excessive alcohol consumption is dangerous and causes serious damage to health. The main organ capable of alcohol oxidizing is liver which is also the main organ synthesizing taurine, a sulfur-containing β-amino acid, which is the major free intracellular amino acid presenting in many tissues of human and animals and exerting many physiologic and pharmacologic functions. To investigate the effect of taurine and Chinese traditional medicine on alcohol metabolism after acute alcoholic intake, male Kunming mice were administered with 60% alcohol (0.4 ml) intragastrically. Water, taurine, or taurine coadministration with Chinese traditional medicine was intragastrically administered to mice 30 min before or after alcohol intake. The disappearance of body-righting reflex was used to determine the intoxication of mice. Durations between alcohol intake and intoxication (tolerance time), intoxication and recovery (maintenance time) were recorded. The concentration of blood alcohol, levels of hepatic alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), and acetaldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) were detected at 20, 50, 90, 120, and 150 min after alcohol intake. The results showed that taurine administered alone or together with Chinese traditional medicine could both significantly reduce the number of intoxicated mice, postpone the tolerance time, shorten the maintenance time, and could obvisouly decrease blood level of alcohol, increase hepatic levels of ADH and ALDH. The results indicated that taurine administered alone or together with traditional Chinese medicine could significantly accelerate the metabolism of alcohol, reduce the toxicity of alcohol, and coadministration of taurine and traditional Chinese medicine had better effects.

These authors contributed equally to the work.

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Abbreviations

ADH:

Alcohol dehydrogenase

ALDH:

Acetaldehyde dehydrogenase

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, University of Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, Shenyang, 110866, P.R.China

    Gaofeng Wu, Jiancheng Yang, Shumei Lin, Ying Feng, Qunhui Yang, Qiufeng Lv & Jianmin Hu

Authors
  1. Gaofeng Wu
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  2. Jiancheng Yang
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  3. Shumei Lin
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  4. Ying Feng
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  5. Qunhui Yang
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  6. Qiufeng Lv
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  7. Jianmin Hu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jianmin Hu .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. City University of New York, Center for Developmental Neuroscience, College of Staten Island, 2800 Victory Blvd, Staten Island, 10314, New York, USA

    Abdeslem El Idrissi

  2. City University of New York, Department of Biology, College of Staten Island, Victory Blvd 2800, Staten Island, 10314, New York, USA

    William J. L'Amoreaux

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Wu, G. et al. (2013). Taurine and Chinese Traditional Medicine Accelerate Alcohol Metabolism in Mice. In: El Idrissi, A., L'Amoreaux, W. (eds) Taurine 8. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 776. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6093-0_3

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