Effect of dietary taurine supplementation on hepatic morphological changes of rats in diethylnitrosamine-induced hepatocarcinogenesis

초록

The purpose of this was to examine effects of dietary taurine supplementation on hepatic morphological changes during rat hepatocarcinogenesis. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed on diets containing 0, 1, 2, 3% taurine or 5% β-alanine for taurine depletion, and treated with DEN and 2/3 partial hepatectomy. Morphological changes of the hepacyte were observed by transmission electron microscopy(TEM). The hepatocytes of the carcinogen-treated rat not exposed to taurine contained normal-chaped nuclei membrane and endoplasmic reticulum(ER) were almost destroyed, and mitochondria(Mi) was partially destroyed. By contrast the hepatocyte from 1% dietary taurine-supplemented groups contained some irregular contour nuclei, normal ER and Mi. However, the hepatocyte from 2% dietary taurine-supplemented groups contained some irregular contour nuclei, partially-destroyed ER and normal Mi. The hepatocyte from 3% dietary taurine-supplemented groups contained some irregular contour nuclei, swollen ER and normal Mi. In the hepatocyte from 5% β-alanine taurine-depleted groups, ER was more swollen and glycogen granules were darker compares to other groups. These result suggest that the chemopreventive potential of taurine still remains and more than 1% dietary level of taurine appears to be excessive.