Does taurine supplementation improve Crohn's symptoms?

Taurine from Wikipedia

"Protective effect of taurine on TNBS-induced inflammatory bowel disease in rats" in Arch Pharm Res (1998)
"Taurine treatment decreased both basal and formyl-methionyl leucyl phenylalanine-stimulated reactive oxygen generation from colonic tissue in the IBD rats. These results suggest that the administration of taurine reduce the inflammatory parameters in this IBD rat model by increasing defending capacity against oxidative damage."

"Effect of taurine on oxidative stress and apoptosis-related protein expression in trinitrobenzene sulphonic acid-induced colitis" in Clinical & Experimental Immunology (2008) [fulll article]
"Taurine treatment was associated with amelioration in macroscopic and microscopic colitis scores, decreased colonic MPO [myeloperoxidase] activity and MDA [malondialdehyde] levels and increased GSH [glutathione] levels in TNBS-induced colitis. In addition, taurine reduced the expression of Bax and prevented the loss of Bcl-2 proteins in colon tissue of rats with TNBS-induced colitis. The results of this study show that taurine administration may exert beneficial effects in UC by decreasing inflammatory reactions, oxidative stress and apoptosis.
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Because cysteine is a precursor of taurine and GSH, taurine supplementation may cause enhancement in GSH levels by directing cysteine into the GSH synthesis pathway [13,23]. Therefore, increased GSH levels after taurine treatment may play an additional role in decreasing oxidative stress. In our study, a significant decrease in colonic MDA levels and an increase in GSH levels were detected in rats with TNBS-induced colitis following taurine treatment.
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Therefore, it is speculated that taurine treatment ameliorates TNBS-induced colitis by reducing pro-apoptotic pathway activation and preventing the loss of the anti-apoptotic pathway through inhibition of oxidative stress."

"Attenuation by dietary taurine of dextran sulfate sodium-induced colitis in mice and of THP-1-induced damage to intestinal Caco-2 cell monolayers" in Biomedical and Life Sciences (2008)
"Taurine supplementation significantly attenuated the weight decrease, diarrhea severity, colon shortening, and the increase in the colonic tissue myeloperoxidase activity induced by DSS. Taurine also significantly inhibited the increase in the expression of a pro-inflammatory chemokine, macrophage inflammatory protein 2 (MIP-2), but not of interleukin (IL)-1β or tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α mRNA. Furthermore, taurine significantly protected the intestinal Caco-2 cell monolayers from the damage by macrophage-like THP-1 cells in an in vitro coculture system. These results suggest that taurine prevented DSS-induced colitis partly in association with (1) its inhibitory effects on the secretion of MIP-2 from the intestinal epithelial cells and on the infiltration of such inflammatory cells as neutrophils and (2) its cytoprotective functions on the epithelial barrier from the direct toxicity of DSS and from the inflammatory cell-induced injury."

Are arginine and glutamate a dynamic duo?

See my post entitled "Do L-arginine supplements reduce Crohn's symptoms?" for specific benefits of L-arginine supplementation

See my post entitled "Do L-glutamine supplements reduce Crohn's symptoms?" for specific benefits of L-gluatmine supplementation.

"Uncoupling gene–diet interactions in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)" in Genes Nutr (2007)
"The amino acids arginine and glutamine are considered non-essential amino acids, but may be depleted during an immune response. Arginine is the sole substrate for nitric oxide synthase, necessary for the synthesis of nitric oxide that is secreted by macrophages to kill pathogens. Glutamine is a specific fuel for the proliferation of lymphocytes. Many sulphur amino acids act as substrates for acute phase protein and immunoglobulin synthesis, and the intake of these molecules is particularly important for glutathione production. An insufficient intake of sulphur amino acids will both exert a pro-inflammatory influence, and reduce the efficiency of the specific immune response."

"Combined Glutamine and Arginine Decrease Proinflammatory Cytokine Production by Biopsies from Crohn's Patients in Association with Changes in Nuclear Factor-κB and p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Pathways" in American Society for Nutrition (2008)
" Arghigh/Glnhighdecreased the production of TNFα, IL-1β, IL-8, and IL-6 (each P < 0.01). ... Combined pharmacological doses of Arg and Gln decreased TNFα and the main proinflammatory cytokines release in active colonic CD biopsies via NF-κB and p38 MAPK pathways. These results could be the basis of prospective studies evaluating the effects of enteral supply of combined Arg and Gln during active CD."

"Combined infusion of glutamine and arginine: does it make sense?" in Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition & Metabolic Care (2010)
"Recent findings: In addition to its role as a fuel, glutamine regulates gut barrier function, immuno-inflammatory response and antioxidant status. Arginine metabolism leads to nitric oxide and/or polyamines and thus modulates the immuno-inflammatory response and wound healing. Glutamine and arginine metabolism are closely related, and therefore may give additive or antagonist effects on several pathways. The effects of combined arginine and glutamine are still poorly documented. Combined administration of arginine and glutamine resulted in additive or synergistic effects on gut barrier function and inflammatory response but arginine reduced glutamine protection against oxidative stress. Preliminary data indicate that the combination may be beneficial during intestinal inflammation, whereas data in surgical or critically ill patients are still lacking.
Summary: Mostly speculative effects of combined infusion of arginine and glutamine are discussed. Future studies are needed in specific pathophysiological conditions to assess whether this combination is beneficial or detrimental."

"Potential for amino acid supplementation during Inflammatory Bowel Diseases" in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (2010)

"Experimental data evaluating pharmaconutrition with amino acids such as glutamine and arginine in colitis models are promising but further studies are required to evaluate the clinical effects of these amino acids. While modern therapies have improved efficacy, they are expensive and have some side effects. In contrast, amino acid supplementation would have a lower cost, but current clinical data do not support the use of amino acid supplementation in IBD. Future directions of research should be 1) to evaluate the combination of amino acids and to understand how they work; 2) to develop drug delivery and targeting issues to achieve adequate concentrations at the site of inflammation; 3) to study dose response and toxicity; and 4) to address the concept of combined treatment associating nutrient and drug."

"Glutamine and Whey Protein Improve Intestinal Permeability and Morphology in Patients with Crohn's Disease:  A Randomized Controlled Trial" in Digestive Diseases and Sciences (2012)

"Intestinal permeability and morphology improved significantly in both glutamine and ACG."

Does acetylcysteine supplementation improve Crohn's symptoms?

Acetylcysteine aka N-acetylcysteine or N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) from Wikipedia

"Molecular evidences on the benefit of N-acetylcysteine in experimental colitis" in Central European Journal of Biology (2008)
"It is concluded that moderate to high doses of NAC improves cellular biomarkers of IBD in mice. Further studies should be trialled in humans suffering from two common inflammatory bowel disease called ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease."

"N-acetyl-L-cysteine combined with mesalamine in the treatment of ulcerative colitis: Randomized, placebo-controlled pilot study" in World J Gasterol (2008)
"In conclusion, the results of the present pilot study suggest that combined therapy (NAC and mesalamine) produces a clinical improvement of UC patients which correlates with a decrease of MCP-1 and IL8. However, the difference in clinical effect with respect to the control group (mesalamine alone) is not conclusive. NAC is safe and well tolerated."