Background: We have previously reported that oral taurine administration reduced the frequency of painful muscle cramps in patients with liver cirrhosis, and that skeletal muscle taurine concentration was significantly decreased after exercise. The aim of this study was to examine taurine concentration in various tissues of a liver damaged with fibrosis (LD) in a rat model before and after exercise.
Methods: Rats were divided into normal (NML) and LD groups. The LD group received CCl(4) injection for 10 weeks. Thereafter, both groups were divided into control (NML/CTL, LD/CTL) and exercise (NML/EX, LD/EX) groups, respectively. The rats in the EX groups were subjected to treadmill running. Plasma, liver, brain, heart, and skeletal muscle taurine concentration, as well as plasma and liver lipid peroxidase (LPO) concentration, were measured.
Results: The liver, brain, and skeletal muscle taurine concentration in the LD groups was significantly decreased compared to that in the respective NML groups. Furthermore, the taurine concentration in the heart and skeletal muscles in the LD/CTL group was significantly decreased post exercise. The respective plasma and liver LPO concentration in the LD groups was significantly increased compared to that in the corresponding NML group. Moreover, plasma LPO concentration in the LD/EX group was significantly higher than in the LD/CTL group.
Conclusions: Tissue taurine concentration, particularly in skeletal muscle, was significantly decreased in the LD model rats induced by CCl(4) administration, and furthermore, the significantly decreased concentration, except for liver, was aggravated by exercise, even though at lower intensity.