【Animal Experiment】-Effects of Taurine on Growth Axis Hormones and Genes in Pregnant Rats with Intrauterine Growth Restriction

  Objective To observe the effect of taurine on the expression of blood hormones and IGF gene in pregnant rats with intrauterine growth restriction.

  Methods Healthy SD rats were fed in a 2:1 cage. The pregnant rats were randomly selected according to the order of pregnancy and divided into normal diet group (C), low protein diet group (M), low protein diet + taurine group (MT) , Normal feed + taurine group (T). There were 10 pregnant rats in each group. The M and MT groups were fed with low-protein feed during pregnancy to build a model. On the 12th day of pregnancy, the pregnant rats in C and M groups were gavage with drinking water, and the MT and T groups were gavage with taurine 300 mg / ( kg·d). The weight gain of pregnant rats was detected weekly, and samples were taken on the 21st day of pregnancy, and the weight, number, and number of fetal rats were recorded; the Elisa method was used to detect the serum growth hormone (GH), insulin growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and insulin (INS) of pregnant rats. ), thyroxine (T3 and T4) levels, fluorescence quantitative PCR method to detect pregnant mouse liver growth hormone receptor (GHR), insulin growth factor 1 (IGF-1), insulin growth factor binding protein 1 (IGFBP-1) and insulin The mRNA expression of growth factor binding protein 3 (IGFBP-3).

  Results The weight, number and teratogenicity of fetal rats in the taurine group were significantly improved, the weight of pregnant rats increased significantly (P<0.05), blood INS and T4 increased significantly (P<0.05), liver IGF-1 , IGFBP-3 mRNA expression increased significantly (P<0.05), and IGFBP-1 mRNA expression decreased significantly (P<0.01).

  Conclusion Adding taurine can improve thyroid function and GH/IGF-1 axis disorders in low-protein pregnant mice, which may play an important role in alleviating fetal uterine growth restriction.