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Neuropsychopharmacological Actions of Taurine

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Taurine 8

Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((AEMB,volume 775))

Abstract

Taurine, an endogenous amino sulfonic acid, exhibits numerous neuropsychopharmacological activities. Previous studies in our laboratory have shown that it is an effective anti-cataleptic and neuro-protective agent. Current investigations show that acute or chronic administration of psychotropic drug cocaine may increase extracellular release of endogenous taurine which may protect against deleterious effects of the substances of abuse. Taurine administration was found to prevent cocaine-induced addiction by suppressing spontaneous locomotor activity and conditioned place preference. Taurine markedly delayed tail-flick response in rats which was significantly different from that in the group of animal receiving the same volume of saline, thereby indicating that taurine is a potentially valuable analgesic agent. Both taurine and endomorphin-1 were found to suppress the delayed broad negative evoked field potentials in anterior insular cortex (upper layer 5) by partially inhibiting NMDA receptor system. Thus, taurine is a unique psychopharmacological compound with potential for a variety of therapeutic uses including as a neuro-protective, anti-cataleptic, anti-addicting, and analgesic agent.

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Abbreviations

NMDA:

N-Methyl-d-aspartate

GABA:

Gama-amino-butyric acid

APV:

DL-2-Amino-5-phosphonopentanoic acid

CPP:

Conditioned place preference

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by DAO18055 grant from NIDA and by PSC-CUNY 41-582 grant.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience, Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education at CCNY, City University of New York, Harris Hall Rm. 203, 160 Convent Ave, New York, NY, USA

    Shailesh P. Banerjee, Andre Ragnauth, Christopher Y. Chan, Mervan S. Agovic, Vincent Sostris, Iman Jashanmal, Louis Vidal & Eitan Friedman

  2. Neuroscience Subprogram, Doctoral Programs in Biology, Graduate Center of the City University of New York, New York, NY, USA

    Shailesh P. Banerjee, Christopher Y. Chan, Mervan S. Agovic, Vincent Sostris & Eitan Friedman

  3. Neuroscience Subprogram, Doctoral Programs in Psychology, Graduate Center of the City University of New York, New York, NY, USA

    Andre Ragnauth & Iman Jashanmal

  4. Department of Biology, Bronx Community College, The City University of New York, New York, NY, USA

    Mervan S. Agovic

Authors
  1. Shailesh P. Banerjee
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  2. Andre Ragnauth
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  3. Christopher Y. Chan
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  4. Mervan S. Agovic
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  5. Vincent Sostris
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  6. Iman Jashanmal
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  7. Louis Vidal
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  8. Eitan Friedman
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shailesh P. Banerjee .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. City University of New York, Center for Developmental Neuroscience, College of Staten Island, 2800 Victory Blvd, Staten Island, 10314, New York, USA

    Abdeslem El Idrissi

  2. City University of New York, Department of Biology, College of Staten Island, Victory Blvd 2800, Staten Island, 10314, New York, USA

    William J. L'Amoreaux

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Banerjee, S.P. et al. (2013). Neuropsychopharmacological Actions of Taurine. In: El Idrissi, A., L'Amoreaux, W. (eds) Taurine 8. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 775. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6130-2_1

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