Neonatal taurine administration modifies metabolic programming in male mice

The semi-essential amino-acid taurine is involved in glucose homeostasis either in adults or in parental life. Taurine is currently used in neonatal life because it is added to milk formula for babies, and to parental solution for prematures. Here, it has been examined whether taurine administration in lactation modifies adult glucose metabolism. Neonatally taurine-treated mice (50 mg/kg body weight/day, for the first 21 days of life) as adults have lower basal glucose and iAUC after glucose loading curves in comparison with vehicle-treated mice, whereas iAUC following insulin loading curves, plasma lipids and malondialdehyde (MDA), an index of lipid peroxidation were not significantly changed. Thus, in rodents, neonatally administered taurine produces enduring effects in a way that could be advantageous for the control of glucose homoeostasis.