AccScience Publishing / ITPS / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/ITPS025400049
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ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

High-dose taurine exacerbates ulcerative colitis via macrophage activation

Shintaro Noborio1 ,  Ruku Sasaki1 ,  Yugo Taoka1 ,  Yamamoto Yamamoto1 ,  Kohki Okada1,2*
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1 Kyoto Tachibana University Graduate School of Health Sciences, Kyoto, Japan
2 Department of Medical Technology and Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Kyoto Tachibana University, Kyoto, Japan
INNOSC Theranostics and Pharmacological Sciences, 025400049 https://doi.org/10.36922/ITPS025400049
Received: 29 September 2025 | Revised: 10 February 2026 | Accepted: 10 March 2026 | Published online: 17 April 2026
© 2026 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
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Abstract

While taurine is generally considered beneficial, excessive intake may be harmful under certain conditions. In this study, we examined the effects of dietary taurine on Wistar rats with ulcerative colitis (UC)—a chronic inflammatory disease—induced with 3% dextran sulfate sodium (DSS). Normal rats fed a 10% taurine diet served as the control group, and UC model rats were assigned to the DSS group (standard diet) or taurine-supplemented diets containing 1%, 5%, or 10% taurine (the 1 TAU, 5 TAU, or 10 TAU group). In parallel, primary peritoneal macrophages were stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and/or taurine in vitro. Control rats gained more weight than all DSS-exposed groups and showed no colonic atrophy or increased inflammatory scores. Among DSS-exposed rats, the 10 TAU group was associated with the greatest body weight loss and the highest disease activity index, whereas colon length did not differ significantly on day 20. Histology revealed epithelial injury and inflammatory infiltration in DSS-exposed groups, with the most pronounced damage in the DSS and 10 TAU groups and comparatively milder injury in the 1 TAU and 5 TAU groups. Serum TNF-α was significantly elevated in the 5 TAU group and showed an increasing trend in the 10 TAU group. In vitro, taurine enhanced macrophage activation in an LPS-stimulated context. Overall, very high dietary taurine (10% w/w) was associated with pathological exacerbation and greater histopathologic severity, while 5% taurine showed intermediate, outcome-dependent effects rather than a uniform dose response.

Keywords
Macrophage
Nutrient
Taurine
Ulcerative colitis
Rat
Inflammation
Funding
This study was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Academic Research Promotion from Kyoto Tachibana University (2025-5).
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
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INNOSC Theranostics and Pharmacological Sciences, Electronic ISSN: 2705-0823 Print ISSN: 2705-0734, Published by AccScience Publishing
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