Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine. Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine (New York, N.Y.)
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Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med. · Feb 1996
beta-Alanine protects against taurine and NaCl--induced hypernatremia in the rat.
Rats drinking a combination of taurine and hypertonic saline solution rapidly develop hypernatremia, but rats drinking either solution alone do not. The mechanism by which taurine disrupts the ability to deal with a salt load is not clear. Rats housed in metabolism cages were studied. ⋯ The addition of beta-alanine to the regimens of taurine + saline or saline alone produced ratios of cumulative sodium to cumulative water balance significantly lower than that of either regimen without beta-alanine. These findings suggest that taurine induces hypernatremia by interfering with normal homeostatic control mechanisms and that beta-alanine counteracts that action of taurine. The effect of beta-alanine in rats drinking saline alone is consistent with a role for endogenous taurine in normal electrolyte homeostasis.