Tauroursodeoxycholic Acid (TUDCA)

Taurine-conjugated bile acid with potent hepatoprotective and cytoprotective properties. Inhibits the mitochondrial apoptosis pathway by stabilizing mitochondrial membranes and preventing cytochrome c release. Reduces endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress by acting as a chemical chaperone that assists protein folding. Displaces toxic bile acids from the bile acid pool, reducing cholestatic liver injury. Also improves insulin sensitivity through ER stress reduction in peripheral tissues.

Half-life

~4 hours (estimated)

Bioavailability

~50-60% (oral, bile acid absorption)

Route

oral

Evidence tier

T2 — Single-RCT or mechanistic

Optimization pillars

cellular-health · recovery

References

3 peer-reviewed

Dose ranges

Three tiers ordered by aggressiveness. Tier chips on every OPTIMIZE intervention let you filter the catalog by your evidence tolerance.

conservative

250–500 mg/day

General liver support and ER stress reduction

moderate

500–750 mg/day

On-protocol hepatoprotection with oral compounds

aggressive

1000–1500 mg/day

Clinical cholestatic liver disease doses

Monitoring

alt
ast
ggt
bilirubin
lipid-panel

Contraindications

complete-biliary-obstruction

References

PMID:20937693Tauroursodeoxycholic acid: a potential therapeutic tool in neurodegenerative diseases — Transl Neurodegener, 2010
PMID:20385172TUDCA as a chemical chaperone reduces ER stress and insulin resistance — Hepatology, 2010
PMID:16517550Chemical chaperones reduce ER stress and restore glucose homeostasis in a mouse model of type 2 diabetes — Science, 2006

Notes

TUDCA is the bile acid that protects your liver from the other bile acids. That sounds recursive, but the mechanism is elegant — it displaces hydrophobic toxic bile acids from the pool and stabilizes hepatocyte mitochondria against apoptosis. For enhancement contexts, TUDCA is the gold-standard hepatoprotective compound during hepatotoxic compound cycles. 500mg daily while running methylated orals is the minimum. The ER stress reduction mechanism has implications beyond the liver — neurodegenerative disease, insulin resistance, and cellular protein homeostasis all benefit from improved ER function. The Science 2006 paper on chemical chaperones opened this entire field.

This is not medical advice

Discuss with a licensed clinician before starting, stopping, or changing any compound. This page documents what the research literature describes — it is not a prescription.

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