Taurine pp 245-251 | Cite as

Review: Recent Studies on Taurine in the Central Nervous System

  • John B. Lombardini
Part of the Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology book series (AEMB, volume 315)

Abstract

The functions of taurine in the central nervous system are ambiguous at best and any review concerning this ubiquitous compound, unless truly exhaustive, suffers from the problem of where to start. With this problem in mind I have opted to review select papers dealing with taurine and the brain that have been published since 1989 when the very elegant and comprehensive review entitled “Taurine in the Central Nervous System and the Mammalian Actions of Taurine” by Ryan Huxtable was published1. Articles referring to taurine and the retina will also be omitted since this subject has been recently reviewed elsewhere2.

Keywords

Excitatory Amino Acid Audiogenic Seizure Cornu Ammonis Taurine Level Inhibitory Amino Acid 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. 1.
    R.J. Huxtable, Taurine in the central nervous system and the mammalian actions of taurine, Frog. Neurobiol. 32:471–533 (1989).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  2. 2.
    J.B. Lombardini, Taurine: retinal function, Brain Res. Rev. 16:151–169 (1991).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  3. 3.
    R.K. Simpson, Jr., C.S. Robertson, and J.C. Goodman, Spinal cord ischemia-induced elevation of amino acids: extracellular measurement with microdialysis, Neurochem. Res. 215:635–639 (1990).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  4. 4.
    K.E. Gordon, J. Simpson, D. Statman, and F.S. Silverstein, Effects of perinatal stroke on striatal amino acid efflux in rats studied with in vivo microdialysis, Stroke 22:928–932 (1991).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  5. 5.
    N. Menéndez, O. Herreras, J.M. Solís, A.S. Herranz, and R. Martín del Río, Extracellular taurine increases in rat hippocampus evoked by specific glutamate receptor activation is related to the excitatory potency of glutamate agonists, Neurosci. Lett. 102:64–69 (1989).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  6. 6.
    N. Menéndez, J.M. Solis, O. Herreras, A.S. Herranz, and R. Martín del Río, Role of endogenous taurine on the glutamate analogue-induced neurotoxicity in the rat hippocampus in vivo, J. Neurochem. 55:714–717 (1990).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  7. 7.
    K. Matsumoto, S. Ueda, T. Hashimoto, and K. Kuriyama, Ischemic neuronal injury in the rat hippocampus following transient forebrain ischemia: evaluation using in vivo microdialysis. Brain Res 543:236–242 (1991).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  8. 8.
    R. Torp, P. Andiné, H. Hagberg, T. Karagülle, T.W. Blackstad, and O.P. Ottersen, Cellular and subcellular redistribution of glutamate-, glutamine-and taurine-like immunoreactivities during forebrain ischemia: a semiquantitative electron microscopic study in rat hippocampus, Neurosci. 41:433–447 (1991).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  9. 9.
    H. Ooboshi, H. Yao, T. Matsumoto, M. Hirano, H. Uchimura, S. Sadoshima, and M. Fujishima, Excitatory and inhibitory amino acid changes in ischemic brain regions in spontaneously hypertensive rats, Neurochem. Res. 16:51–56 (1991).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  10. 10.
    K.-M. Marnel, H.R. Morris, M. Panico, M. Timonen and P. Lähdesmäki, Glutamyl-taurine is the predominant synaptic taurine peptide, J. Neurochem. 44:752–754 (1985).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  11. 11.
    V. Varga, R. Janáky, K.-M. Marnela, J. Gulyás, P. Kontro, and S.S. Oja, Displacement of excitatory amino acid receptor ligands by acidic oligopeptides, Neurochem. Res. 14: 1223–1227 (1989).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  12. 12.
    P. Andiné, O. Orwar, I. Jacobson, M. Sandberg, and H. Hagberg, Extracellular acidic sulfur-containing amino acids and y-glutamyl peptides in global ischemia: postischemic recovery of neuronal activity is paralleled by a tetrodotoxin-sensitive increase in cysteinesulfmate in the CAl of the rat hippocampus, J. Neurochem. 57:230–236 (1991).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  13. 13.
    D.W. Choi, Glutamate neurotoxicity and diseases of the nervous system, Neuron 1:623–634 (1988).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  14. 14.
    G.E. Nilsson and P.L. Lutz, Release of inhibitory neurotransmitters in response to anoxia in turtle brain, Am. J. Physiol. 261:R32–R37 (1991).Google Scholar
  15. 15.
    G.E. Nilsson, AA. Alfaro, and P.L. Lutz, Changes in turtle brain neurotransmitters and related substances during anoxia, Am. J. Physiol. 259:R376–R384 (1990).Google Scholar
  16. 16.
    T.R. Guilarte, Regional changes in the concentrations of glutamate, glycine, taurine, and GABA in the vitamin B-6 deficient developing rat brain: association with neonatal seizures, Neurochem. Res. 14:889–897 (1989).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  17. 17.
    T.R. Guilarte, Abnormal endogenous amino acid release in brain slices from vitamin B-6 restricted neonatal rats, Neurosci. Lett. 121:203–206 (1991).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  18. 18.
    M. Malcangio, A. Bartolini, C. Ghelardini, F. Bennardini, P. Malmberg-Aiello, F. Franconi, and A. Giotti, Effect of ICV taurine on the impairment of learning, convulsions and death caused by hypoxia, Psychopharmacol. 98:316–320.Google Scholar
  19. 19.
    S. Simler, L. Ciesielski, J. Clement, and P. Mandel, Amino acid neurotransmitter alterations in three sublimes of Rb mice differing by their susceptibility to audiogenic seizures, Neurochem. Res. 15:687–693 (1990).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  20. 20.
    L. Ciesielski, S. Simler, J. Clement, and P. Mandel, Effect of repeated convulsive seizures on brain γ-aminobutyric acid metabolism in three sublines of mice differing by their response to acoustic stimulation, J. Neurochem. 49:220–226 (1987).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  21. 21.
    P. Demediuk, M.P. Daly, and A.I. Faden, Effect of impact trauma on neurotransmitter and non-neurotransmitter amino acids in rat spinal cord, J. Neurochem. 52:1529–1536 (1989).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  22. 22.
    N.W. Kowall and M.F. Beal, Glutamate-, glutaminase-, and taurine-immunoreactive neurons develop neurofibrillary tangles in Alzheimer’s Disease, Ann. Neurol. 29:162–167 (1991).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  23. 23.
    J. Mom, J.N. Mahy, N. Brandi, and E. Tolosa, Cerebrospinal fluid taurine in Alzheimer’s Disease, Ann. Nentol. 30:735 (1991).Google Scholar
  24. 24.
    M. Banay-Schwartz, A. Lajtha, and M. Palkovits, Changes with ageing in the levels of amino acids in rat CNS structural elements II. Taurine and small neutral amino acids, Neurochem. Res. 14:563–570 (1989).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  25. 25.
    R.O. Law, Effects of pregnancy on the contents of water, taurine, and total amino nitrogen in rat cerebral cortex, J. Neurochem. 53:300–302 (1989).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  26. 26.
    R. Dawson, Jr., D.R. Wallace, and M.J. King, Monoamine and amino acid content in brain regions of Brattleboro rats, Neurochem. Res. 15:755–761 (1990).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  27. 27.
    C.F. Baxter, J.E. Parson, C.C. Oh, C.G. Wasterlain, and RA. Baldwin, Changes of amino acid gradients in brain tissues induced by microwave irradiation and other means, Neurochem. Res. 124:909–913 (1989).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  28. 28.
    S. Brailowsky, M. Kunimoto, C. Silva-Barrat, C. Menini, and R. Naquet, Electroencephalographic study of the GABA-withdrawal syndrome in rats, Epilepsia 31:369–377 (1990).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  29. 29.
    S. Brailowsky, M. Kunimoto, C. Menini, C. Silva-Barrat, D. Riche, and R. Naquet, The GABAwithdrawl syndrome: a new model of focal epileptogenesis, Brain Res. 442:175–179 (1988).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  30. 30.
    H. Nyland, BA. Engelsen, and H. Blom, Taurine treatment of dyskinesias: an attempt, Eur. Neurol. 29:121–123 (1989).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media New York 1992

Authors and Affiliations

  • John B. Lombardini
    • 1
  1. 1.Departments of Pharmacology and Ophthalmology & Visual SciencesTexas Tech University Health Sciences CenterLubbockUSA

Personalised recommendations