Summary
Taurine is a very important organic osmolyte in most adult cells. Because of this property it has been proposed that large changes in the intracellular content of taurine can osmotically stress the cell, causing changes in its size and shape. This hypothesis was examined by measuring cell dimensions of taurine deficient cardiomyocytes using confocal microscopy. Incubation of isolated neonatal rat myocytes with medium containing 5mMβ-alanine led to a 55% decrease in intracellular taurine content. Associated with the loss of taurine was a reduction in cell size. Two factors contributed to the change in cell size. First, there was a shift in cell shape, favoring the smaller of the two cellular configurations commonly found in the myocyte cell culture. Second, the size of the polyhedral configuration was reduced after ßalanine treatment. These same two events also contributed to size reduction in cardiomyocytes incubated with medium containing 30mM mannitol. Nonetheless, some qualitative differences exist between cells osmotically stressed by increasing the osmolality of the incubation medium and decreasing intracellular osmolality. The results support a role for taurine in the regulation of osmotic balance in the neonatal cardiomyocyte.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allen DG, Smith GL (1987) The effects of hypertonicity on tension and intracellular calcium concentration in ferret ventricular muscle. J Physiol 383: 425–439
Atlas M, Bahl JJ, Roeske W, Bressler R (1984) In vitro osmoregulation of taurine in fetal mouse hearts. J Mol Cell Cardiol 16: 311–320
Hayes KC, Carey RE (1975) Retinal degeneration associated with taurine deficiency in the cat. Science 188: 949–951
Huxtable RJ (1992) The physiological actions of taurine. Physiol Rev 72: 101–163
Koch-Weser J (1963) Influence of osmolarity of perfusate on contractility of mammalian myocardium. Am J Physiol 204: 957–962
Leem CH, Ho W-K, Earm YE (1996) The effect of taurine on the activation osmolality of the osmosensitive current in single ventricular myocytes of rabbits. Exp Physiol 81: 189–202
Lombardini JB (1992) Effects of taurine on protein phosphorylation in mammalian tissues. In: Lombardini JB, Schaffer SW, Azuma J (eds) Nutritional value and mechanisms of action. Plenum Press, New York, pp 309–318 (Adv Exp Med Biol 315)
McDermott PJ, Morgan HE (1989) Contraction modulates the capacity for protein synthesis during growth of neonatal heart cells in culture. Circ Res 64: 542–553
McDonald KS, Moss RL (1995) Osmotic compression of single cardiac myocytes eliminates the reduction in Ca2+ sensitivity of tension at short sarcomere length. Circ Res 77: 199–205
McManus ML, Churchwell KB, Strange K (1995) Mechanisms of disease regulation of cell volume in health and disease. N Engl J Med 333: 1260–1266
Mozaffari MS, Tan BH, Lucia MA, Schaffer SW (1986) Effect of drug-induced taurine depletion on cardiac contractility and metabolism. Biochem Pharmacol 35: 985–989
Pasantes-Morales H, Martin del Rio R (1990) Taurine and mechanisms of cell volume regulation. In: Taurine: functional neurochemistry, physiology and cardiology. Wiley Liss, Inc, New York, pp 317–328
Pion PD, Kittleson MD, Rodgers OR, Morris JG (1987) Myocardial failure in cats associated with low plasma taurine: a reversible cardiomyopathy. Science 237: 764–768
Rasmusson RL, Davis DG, Lieberman M (1993) Amino acid loss during volume regulatory decrease in cultured chick heart cells. Am J Physiol 264: C136-C145
Satoh H, Delbridge LMD, Blatter LA, Bers DM (1996) Surface: volume relationship in cardiac myocytes studied with confocal microscopy and membrane capacitance measurements: species-dependence and developmental effects. Biophys J 70: 1494–1504
Schaffer SW, Ballard C, Azuma J (1994) Mechanisms underlying physiological and pharmacological actions of taurine on myocardial calcium transport. In: Huxtable RJ, Michalk D (eds) Taurine in health and disease. Plenum Press, New York, pp 171–180 (Adv Exp Med Biol 359)
Schaffer SW, Azuma J, Madura JD (1995) Mechanisms underlying taurine-mediated alterations in membrane function. Amino Acids 8: 231–246
Schuller-Levis GB, Levis WR, Ammazzalorso M, Nosrati A, Park E (1994) Mycobacterial lipoarabinomannan induces nitric oxide and tumor necrosis factor alpha production in a macrophage cell line: down regulation by taurine chloramine. Infection Immunity 62: 4671–4674
Sturman JA (1993) Taurine in development. Physiol Rev 73: 119–147
Tanaka R, Barnes MA, Cooper G IV, Zile MR (1996) Effects of anisosmotic stress on cardiac muscle cell length, diameter, area and sarcomere length. Am J Physiol 270: H1414-H1422
Vandenberg JI, Rees SA, Wright AR, Powell T (1996) Cell swelling and ion transport pathways in cardiac myocytes. Cardiovasc Res 32: 85–97
Vislie T (1983) Cell volume regulation in fish heart ventricles with special reference to taurine. Comp Biochem Physiol 76A: 507–514
Vislie T, Fugelli K (1975) Cel volume regulation in flounder (Platichthys flesus) heart muscle accompanying an alteration in plasma osmolality. Comp Biochem Physiol 52A: 415–418
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Schaffer, S.V.W., Ballard-Croft, C., Azuma, J. et al. Shape and size changes induced by taurine depletion in neonatal cardiomyocytes. Amino Acids 15, 135–142 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01345286
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01345286