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Singh P, Gollapalli K, Mangiola S, Schranner D, Yusuf MA, Chamoli M, Shi SL, Lopes Bastos B, Nair T, Riermeier A, Vayndorf EM, Wu JZ, Nilakhe A, Nguyen CQ, Muir M, Kiflezghi MG, Foulger A, Junker A, Devine J, Sharan K, Chinta SJ, Rajput S, Rane A, Baumert P, Schönfelder M, Iavarone F, di Lorenzo G, Kumari S, Gupta A, Sarkar R, Khyriem C, Chawla AS, Sharma A, Sarper N, Chattopadhyay N, Biswal BK, Settembre C, Nagarajan P, Targoff KL, Picard M, Gupta S, Velagapudi V, Papenfuss AT, Kaya A, Ferreira MG, Kennedy BK, Andersen JK, Lithgow GJ, Ali AM, Mukhopadhyay A, Palotie A, Kastenmüller G, Kaeberlein M, Wackerhage H, Pal B, Yadav VK. Taurine deficiency as a driver of aging. Science. 2023 Jun 9;380(6649):eabn9257. PubMed.
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Johns Hopkins
The findings are remarkable in that the authors report beneficial effects of taurine on the health/function of multiple organ systems. These broad anti-aging effects are reminiscent of the effects of caloric restriction. Indeed, a caveat of the study is that the body weights of mice in the taurine group were significantly lower than those in the control group. This suggests that many, or all, of the effects of taurine may be attributed to caloric restriction. Perhaps taurine suppresses appetite or affects energy metabolism in a similar way.
View all comments by Mark MattsonUniversity of Kansas
There are a few take-home messages from this paper for me, none of which are particularly surprising. The first is that supplementing an organism with a biological intermediate can directly or indirectly affect a metabolic flux, or fluxes, to influence basic biology (Swerdlow, 2014). We know this from studies of other biological pathway intermediates (Wilkins et al., 2014; Vidoni et al., 2020). The second message is that boosting levels to the point of altering biology likely requires a critical amount of supplementation (Vidoni et al., 2020).
While some of the biochemical consequences of biological intermediate-boosting are to some extent predictable, the big-picture biological effects are more complex (Swerdlow, 2014). That is one reason studies such as this are important.
Again, it is not surprising a study found large amounts of taurine supplementation affected organism biology. After all, from a strict biochemical and molecular level, what we think of as life is arguably the sum total of the metabolic fluxes that play out within a definable unit, and those fluxes are modifiable through recognized biochemical principles such as the law of mass action (Swerdlow, 2014). It will be interesting to see whether other studies conclude taurine supplementation benefits organism health and well-being, and ultimately human health and well-being. Finally, it is worth pointing out that homotaurine (tramiprosate) was previously considered for the treatment of AD.
Overall, data from this paper do support the abstract’s final statement—human trials will be necessary to determine if taurine slows aging and its associated biological changes. Based on the current study, proving or disproving this outcome is not a crazy idea.
References:
Swerdlow RH. Bioenergetic medicine. Br J Pharmacol. 2014 Apr;171(8):1854-69. PubMed.
Wilkins HM, Harris JL, Carl SM, E L, Lu J, Eva Selfridge J, Roy N, Hutfles L, Koppel S, Morris J, Burns JM, Michaelis ML, Michaelis EK, Brooks WM, Swerdlow RH. Oxaloacetate activates brain mitochondrial biogenesis, enhances the insulin pathway, reduces inflammation and stimulates neurogenesis. Hum Mol Genet. 2014 Dec 15;23(24):6528-41. Epub 2014 Jul 15 PubMed.
Vidoni ED, Choi IY, Lee P, Reed G, Zhang N, Pleen J, Mahnken JD, Clutton J, Becker A, Sherry E, Bothwell R, Anderson H, Harris RA, Brooks W, Wilkins HM, Mosconi L, Burns JM, Swerdlow RH. Safety and target engagement profile of two oxaloacetate doses in Alzheimer's patients. Alzheimers Dement. 2021 Jan;17(1):7-17. Epub 2020 Jul 27 PubMed.
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