Evaluation of taurine as a biomarker of liver damage in paracetamol poisoning

Taurine is one of the most abundant amino acids in the body. Plasma taurine levels of 217 paracetamol positive and 100 paracetamol negative poisoned patients (related to non-hepatotoxic agents) referred to the Toxicology lab in Cardiff Poisons unit and 90 healthy humans (age between 18 and 45) were measured by a high performance liquid chromatography method. The data were analysed using linear regression and two-tailed unpaired student t-test using Prism software package. We showed that the mean plasma taurine concentration in the paracetamol-poisoned patients (mean 26.4 ± 1.6 mg/l) was significantly different from the control groups (mean 5.6 ± 0.2 mg/l) (P < 0.0001) and the non-paracetamol group (mean 18.1 ± 1.1 mg/l) (P < 0.01). Taurine is produced by the liver in response to a toxic insult and subsequent leakage from damaged cells leads to increased concentrations in plasma and urine. Therefore a plasma or urinary taurine concentration could be a useful marker for paracetamol-induced hepatic damage.