Taurine supplementation at three different dosages and its effect on trauma patients

We studied the effect of different amounts of intravenous taurine supplementation on restoring serum taurine concentrations in trauma patients. The nature of the hypotaurinemia in trauma patients was also studied by following renal-clearance dynamics. Five trauma patients in each of four groups were randomly assigned to receive, in their parenteral nutrition solutions, one of three dosages of taurine (5, 10.8, or 50 mg/kg ideal body wt as group 1, 2, or 3, respectively) or no taurine. Serum taurine concentrations rose significantly over 7 d, relative to control values, in both groups 2 and 3, but even with the highest dosage (group 3) only recovered about one-half of the deficit to the normal value. Despite low serum taurine concentrations in group 3, in contrast with handling of other amino acids, tubular reabsorption of taurine remained abnormally low after 7 d, resulting in a large taurine excretion. Hypotaurinemia in trauma patients persists longer than other hypoaminoacidemias because of depressed renal tubular reabsorption. Even 7 d of a high-dose taurine supplementation does not fully correct the hypotaurinemia of trauma.