cloudstrife1218

MuscleChemistry Registered Member
General info

Tauroursodeoxycholic acid, more commonly referred to as TUDCA, is a bile salt that is found natrually occurring in the body. When regular bile salts reach the intestines, they can be metabolized by bacteria into UDCA and then later bound to a Taurine molecule to become TUDCA.

TUDCA is a water-soluble bile salt, which is in contrast to regular bile salts possessing both water soluble and fat soluble ends and conferring a detergent effect. This is good for the bile salt's biological purpose (emulsifying fats in the intestines to help with absorption) but when bile acids back up in the liver, a clinical state called cholestasis which occurs when the liver is unhealthy, these bile salts can be damaging to cells by destroying the membranes and signalling for cell death. TUDCA and other water soluble bile salts like UDCA compete with this toxicity and thus indirectly protect cells from death.
Additionally, it seems that TUDCA is able to reduce stress to any cell's Endoplasmic Reticulum; an organelle in cells that serves as a highway from the nucleus out into the cytoplasm, and aids in folding proteins. Through reducing ER stress, TUDCA has been implicated in a wide range of beneficial metabolic effects such as reducing insulin resistance and diabetes, and being a neurological protection agent. However, usages of TUDCA beyond the liver are preliminary whereas usage of TUDCA for helping an already harmed liver is quite reliable as TUDCA is used in clinical settings (hospitals) for treating cholestasis.



If using TUDCA for treating an alcohol-abused liver, be aware of the temporal relationship needed. Co-incubation (same time) or rehabilitative (after the matter) usage of TUDCA may be protective of the liver while pre-loading TUDCA before drinking may be harmful to the liver.

How to take:

10-13mg daily has once been shown to improve liver regenesis rates in a clinically ill population, and may be the lowest estimate of an active oral dose. When looking at improving bile salt composition, a dose around 15-20mg/kg bodyweight TUDCA seems best according to one study.
Benefits have been seen at 1,750mg daily for muscle and liver insulin sensitivity, which is the highest dose used for treatment of fatty liver disease.


Extra Info


Beyond TUDCA's primary treatment purpose (Cholestasis, next section) TUDCA also appears to have beneficial modulation of cells in the liver, promoting regeneration and reducing cell death. May not be relevant in an already health liver (due to high regeneration rates already), but nice for unhealthy livers


For short term treatment of bile acid complications and cholestasis, TUDCA appears to be very potent and reliable. Used in clinical settings for treatment of cholestasis as well.


Gallstones can form in the liver from cholesterol, and administration of bile acids is thought to dissolve the gallstones to a level where they may be passed in the urine (not painless, but does not require surgery); this dissolution appears to not influence all gallstones, with gallstones having a calcium content being resistant to bile acids


Treatment of gallstones with TUDCA is used in clinical settings, but is not the first-line treatment and requires certain conditions to be met (small uncalcified gallstone of mostly cholesterol) to be effective. When comparing TUDCA against other bile acids, there do not appear to be significant differences in efficacy


In general, TUDCA appears to be quite protective of cells and this applies to the brain as well. Orally ingested TUDCA is able to reach neuronal tissue, but relevance to humans with TUDCA ingestion has not yet been shown


Preliminary, but TUDCA appears to be able to protect cells from dysfunction associated with hyperglycemia and may reduce the effects of insulin resistance before they happen (beta-cells) and even therapeutically with the potency of some diabetic pharmaceuticals (in regards to the liver and skeletal muscle)


https://examine.com/supplements/tauroursodeoxycholic-acid/ This is a great info source for TUDCA
 
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