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Beneficial effect of taurine on hypoxia- and glutamate-induced endoplasmic reticulum stress pathways in primary neuronal culture

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Abstract

Stroke (hypoxia) is one of the leading causes of mortality in the developed countries, and it can induce excessive glutamate release and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. Taurine, as a free amino acid, present in high concentrations in a range of organs in mammals, can provide protection against multiple neurological diseases. Here, we present a study to investigate the potential protective benefits of taurine against ER stress induced by glutamate and hypoxia/reoxygenation in primary cortical neuronal cultures. We found that taurine suppresses the up-regulation of caspase-12 and GADD153/CHOP induced by hypoxia/reoxygenation, suggesting that taurine may exert a protective function against hypoxia/reoxygenation by reducing the ER stress. Moreover, taurine can down-regulate the ratio of cleaved ATF6 and full length ATF6, and p-IRE1 expression, indicating that taurine inhibits the ER stress induced by hypoxia/reoxygenation and glutamate through suppressing ATF6 and IRE1 pathways.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported partially by grant from Department of Health, James & Esther King Biomedical Research Program, State of Florida (09KW-11).

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, 33431, USA

    Chunliu Pan

  2. Department of Biomedical Science, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, 33431, USA

    Howard Prentice & Jang-Yen Wu

  3. University of Miami Miller School of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, 33431, USA

    Allison L. Price

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  1. Chunliu Pan
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  2. Howard Prentice
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  3. Allison L. Price
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  4. Jang-Yen Wu
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Correspondence to Howard Prentice or Jang-Yen Wu.

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Pan, C., Prentice, H., Price, A.L. et al. Beneficial effect of taurine on hypoxia- and glutamate-induced endoplasmic reticulum stress pathways in primary neuronal culture. Amino Acids 43, 845–855 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00726-011-1141-6

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