[Effect of taurine on the functional status of the insular apparatus and adrenal cortex of the rat with experimental diabetes].

The effect of taurine on the regulation of function of the insular apparatus and adrenal cortex of rats with experimental alloxan diabetes was studied. The assessment of the state of the endocrine glands was based on the determination of the content of immunoreactive insulin, total, free and protein-bound 11-oxycorticosteroids (11-OCS) in the blood of rats and a study of the secretory ability of the adrenals and pancreatic fragments in vitro. A single administration of taurine (300 mg/kg per os) to the rats with experimental alloxan diabetes was accompanied by the reduction of the content of immunoreactive insulin, total and free 11-OCS in the blood, a secretory ability of the adrenal cortex and insulin excretory function of the pancreas. The ability of the pancreatic islet tissue to produce insulin in vitro in response to the natural stimulator glucose was disturbed in the rats with experimental diabetes. Taurine (12 mumol/ml) added to the incubation medium containing isolated adrenals and fragments of the pancreas from the diabetic animals, caused a decrease in a high secretory ability of the cortical substance of the adrenal glands and a partial reduction of the insulin secretory ability of the pancreatic tissue.