Effects of chronic taurine administration on healthy pregnant rats and the consequences on the offspring: Datasets for Motor tests and Oxidative Stress

We present the data for taurine (2-aminoethanesulfonic acid) treatment to healthy pregnant Sprague Dawley rats (SD). Taurine administration (50 mg/L drinking water) was provided to healthy pregnant SD rats at embryonic day 15 (E15) and afterward to the male offspring until eight months of age. We measured, in the offspring, the levels of nitric oxide (NO) through the Griess colorimetric reaction [1]; and malondialdehyde + 4-hydroxyalkenals (MDA + 4-HDA) by the Gérard-Monnier technique [2]. The assessment ages for NO and MDA + 4-HDA were at postnatal day 15 (PND15), 1, 3, and 8 months of age.
The body weight was measured as well as the integral motor behavior in the perinatal stage through the surface righting reflex test at PND5, cliff aversion test at PND9, grip strength test at PND 11, and front limb and hindlimb suspension tests at PND13. The tests were performed accordingly with [3].
The data obtained showed that SD rats with the taurine administration performed poorly in the motor tests compared with the untreated healthy rats. The taurine-treated rats also showed increased lipid peroxidation preferentially in cerebral nuclei involved in the motor activity, such as the medulla oblongata, the subcortical nuclei, and the cerebral cortex. However, the taurine treatment only increased NO concentration in the mentioned cerebral nuclei at older ages.
Since taurine acts as an excitatory neuromodulator in the so-called gestational GABA-switch (occurring at E15) [4], the gestational increase in taurine concentration might generate excitotoxicity in healthy brains, which leads to impairments in the motor development of the offspring. Therefore, the present datasets can be valuable for researchers who attempt to use the taurine supplement on healthy animal models at gestational stages; and for research related to taurine intake during pregnancy in human patients. These datasets are related to the article “Long-term taurine administration improves motor skills in a tubulinopathy rat model by decreasing oxidative stress and promoting myelination” [5]