The daily urinary excretion of taurine was studied in six women,
22 to 36 years old. Five subjects collected 24-hour urine specimens
for 10 days, and another for 37 days. The subjects were free from
any known metabolic disorder. They consumed their normal diet.
Urinary taurine was determined by the method of Pentz et al.
(1957). Taurine was separated from the other amino acids in urine
by treatment with Dowex 50W(H⁺), and reacted with dinitrofluorobenzene
to form the dinitrophenol derivative. The derivative was measured
photometrically at 360 mμ. In addition to taurine, urinary
creatinine was determined by a micro-modification of the method
by Folin (Hawk, Oser and Summerson, 1954).
The average daily urinary excretion of taurine during the 10
days varied widely among the six subjects, ranging from 60.9 to
196.0 mg per 24 hours. The average excretion of taurine was not
related to the subject's age, height, weight or excretion of
creatinine.
The daily excretion of taurine by each subject varied. Three
subjects excreted relatively constant amounts of taurine during
the 10-day period; their excretion ranged from 51.0 to 83.3 mg,
66.0 to 105.0 mg and 123.3 to 163.5 mg per 24 hours. The
remaining three subjects showed greater variation in taurine
execretion; their excretion ranged from 79.5 to 145.5 mg, 84.8
to 187.5 mg and 154.4 to 337.5 mg per 24 hours. This variation
in the daily urinary excretion of taurine may have been caused by
differences in protein, amino acid and free taurine content of
the diet, or stress.
A subject who received ACTH to control an allergic reaction
to dinitrofluorobenzene excreted increased amounts of taurine on
the days the hormone was administered. This subject received
seven injections of an ACTH preparation between the 17th and 37th
day of urine collection. Taurine excretion was greater on the days
ACTH was received than on the day immediately preceding or
following each injection.
The ingestion of oral contraceptives by two of the subjects
did not appear to affect the urinary excretion of taurine.
Menstruation appeared to affect the taurine excretion by the two
subjects who menstruated during the 10-day period.
Results reported by Merrow et al. (1966) indicate that taurine
in plasma may be more indicative of vitamin B₆ nutriture than
that in urine. In view of this, study on the relationship of
taurine in plasma to that excreted in urine by adequately
nourished individuals and ones deficient in vitamin B₆ would be of
considerable interest. Since the diet consumed by the subjects
could affect the urinary excretion of taurine, it is recommended
that the subjects be fed a constant diet of known protein, amino
acid, taurine and vitamin B₆ content. / Graduation date: 1968
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/26800 |
| Date | 13 December 1967 |
| Creators | McCague, Kay Elinor |
| Contributors | Miller, Lorraine |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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