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Taurine content in different brain structures during ageing: effect on hippocampal synaptic plasticity

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Abstract

A reduction in taurine content accompanies the ageing process in many tissues. In fact, the decline of brain taurine levels has been associated with cognitive deficits whereas chronic administration of taurine seems to ameliorate age-related deficits such as memory acquisition and retention. In the present study, using rats of three age groups (young, adult and aged) we determined whether the content of taurine and other amino acids (glutamate, serine, glutamine, glycine, alanine and GABA) was altered during ageing in different brain areas (cerebellum, cortex and hippocampus) as well non-brain tissues (heart, kidney, liver and plasma). Moreover, using hippocampal slices we tested whether ageing affects synaptic function and plasticity. These parameters were also determined in aged rats fed with either taurine-devoid or taurine-supplemented diets. With age, we found heterogeneous changes in amino acid content depending on the amino acid type and the tissue. In the case of taurine, its content was reduced in the cerebellum of adult and aged rats, but it remained unchanged in the hippocampus, cortex, heart and liver. The synaptic response amplitude decreased in aged rats, although the late phase of long-term synaptic potentiation (late-LTP), a taurine-dependent process, was not altered. Our study highlights the stability of taurine content in the hippocampus during ageing regardless of whether taurine was present in the diet, which is consistent with the lack of changes detected in late-LTP. These results indicate that the beneficial effects of taurine supplementation might be independent of the replenishment of taurine stores.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a grant from “Instituto de Salud Carlos III” (PIU081067) to JMS. We thank Amparo Latorre and José Barbado for technical assistance. This article was revised by Proof-Reading-Service.com.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto Cajal CSIC, Avda. Doctor Arce 37, 28002, Madrid, Spain

    Luz M. Suárez

  2. CIBERNED, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain

    Luz M. Suárez

  3. Servicio de Neurobiología-Investigación, Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal, IRYCIS, 28034, Madrid, Spain

    Luz M. Suárez, Rafael Martín del Río & José M. Solís

  4. Servicio de Neurología Experimental, Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal, IRYCIS, Ctra. de Colmenar Km 9, 28034, Madrid, Spain

    María-Dolores Muñoz

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  1. Luz M. Suárez
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  2. María-Dolores Muñoz
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  3. Rafael Martín del Río
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  4. José M. Solís
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Correspondence to José M. Solís.

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Funding

This work was supported by a grant from “Instituto de Salud Carlos III” (PIU081067).

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

The care and use of animals was carried out following the European Communities Council Directive (86/609/ECC). Protocols were approved by “Comité Ético de Bienestar Animal” at Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal (animal facilities ES280790000092).

This article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any of the authors.

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Handling Editor: M. Engelmann.

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Suárez, L.M., Muñoz, MD., Martín del Río, R. et al. Taurine content in different brain structures during ageing: effect on hippocampal synaptic plasticity. Amino Acids 48, 1199–1208 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00726-015-2155-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00726-015-2155-2

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