Taurine regulates an unusual number of biological phenomena, including heart rhythm, contractile function, blood pressure, platelet aggregation, neuronal excitability, body temperature, learning, motor behavior, food consumption, eye sight, sperm motility, cell proliferation and viability, energy metabolism and bile acid synthesis. Many of these actions are associated with alterations in either ion transport or protein phosphorylation. Although the effects on ion transport have been attributed to changes in membrane structure, they could be equally affected by a change in the activity of the affected transporters. Three common ways of altering transporter activity is enhanced expression, changes in the phosphorylation status of the protein and cytoskeletal changes. Interestingly, all three events are altered by osmotic stress. Since taurine is a key organic osmolyte in most cells, the possibility that the effects of taurine on ion transport could be related to its osmoregulatory activity was considered. This was accomplished by comparing the effects of taurine, cell swelling and cell shrinkage on the activities of key ion channels and ion transporters. The review also compares the phosphorylation cascades initiated by osmotic stress with some of the phosphorylation events triggered by taurine depletion or treatment. The data reveal that certain actions of taurine are probably caused by the activation of osmotic-linked signaling pathways. Nonetheless, some of the actions of taurine are unique and appear to be correlated with its membrane modulating and phosphorylation regulating activities.

Role of osmoregulation in the actions of taurine.

SPECIFIC AIMSIn view of the important role of taurine in muscle physiology and in cell protection against various types of injury, cardiac and skeletal muscle function were examined in the recently...

Taurine transporter knockout depletes muscle taurine levels and results in severe skeletal muscle impairment but leaves cardiac function uncompromised

I: Chemistry, Biochemistry and Metabolism of Taurine.- Possible Relationships Between Taurine Derivatives and Products of the Metabolism of Ketimines.- The Inhibitory Effects of Taurine on Protein Phosphorylation: Comparison of Various Characteristics of the Taurine-Affected Phosphoproteins Present in Rat Retina, Brain and Heart.- Effect of Photolytically Generated Riboflavin Radicals and Oxygen on Hypotaurine Antioxidant Free Radical Scavenging Activity.- Taurine Protects Against Oxidant-Induced Lung Injury: Possible Mechanism(s) of Action.- Sulphur Amino Acids and the Metabolic Response to Cytokines.- Expression and Regulation of the Taurine Transporter in Cultured Cell Lines of Human Origin.- Dietary Taurine Requirement of Cats Is Determined by Microbial Degradation of Taurine in the Gut.- Reactivity of Taurine with Aldehydes and its Physiological Role.- II: Taurine and the Liver.- Hepatic Regulation of Cysteine Utilization for Taurine Synthesis.- Immunohistochemical Localization of Taurine-Conjugated Bile Acids in the Liver of Mouse, Rat, Monkey and Human.- Effects of Taurine on Microsomal Enzyme Activities Involved in Liver Lipid Metabolism of Wistar Rats.- III: Taurine and the Kidney.- Inhibitors of Anion Exchanger Activity Reduce Sodium Chloride-Dependent Taurine Transport by Brush Border Vesicles.- Expression of Taurine Transporter and its Regulation by Diet in Xenopus laevis Oocytes Following Injection of Rat Kidney Cortex mRNA.- Regulation of Taurine Transport by External Taurine Concentration and Medium Osmolality in Renal Tubular Cells in Culture.- Role of Taurine in the Kidney: Osmoregulatory Taurine Accumulation in Renal Medulla.- Taurine and Experimental Kidney Disease.- Protecting Effect of Taurine Against Hypoxic Cell Damage in Renal Tubular Cells Cultured in Different Transplant Preservation Solutions.- IV: Taurine in Muscle and the Cardiovascular System.- Mechanisms Underlying Physiological and Pharmacological Actions of Taurine on Myocardial Calcium Transport.- Cardioprotective Actions of Taurine Against Intracellular and Extracellular Calcium-Induced Effects.- Antihypertensive Effect of Taurine on Salt-Induced Hypertension.- The Effect of Taurine on Blood Pressure, and Urinary Sodium, Potassium and Calcium Excretion.- Dual Effects of Taurine on Membrane Ionic Conductances of Rat Skeletal Muscle Fibers.- V: Taurine and the Nervous System.- New Data on the Regulation of Taurine Uptake in Cultured Nervous Cells.- Changes in the Localization of Taurine-Like Immunoreactivity During Development and Regeneration in the Rat Brain.- Transmitter and Electrical Stimulation of [3H]Taurine Release from Rat Sympathetic Ganglia.- Cysteine Sulfinate Decarboxylase in Brain: Identification, Characterization and Immunocytochemical Location in Astrocytes.- Relations of Taurine Release and Influx to Cell Volumes in Cerebral Cortical Slices.- Taurine Release from Mouse Hippocampal Slices: Effects of Glutamatergic Substances and Hypoxia.- Taurine Neurons in Rat Hippocampal Formation Are Relatively Inert to Cerebral Ischemia.- Calcium and Taurine Interaction in Mammalian Brain Metabolism.- Regulation of Protein Kinase C Activity by Taurine and ?-Alanine during Excitotoxicity in Cat and Mouse Cerebellar Cultures.- Volume Regulation in Cultured Neurons: Pivotal Role of Taurine.- Taurine as an Organic Osmolyte in the Intact Brain: Immunocytochemical and Biochemical Studies.- VI: Taurine Deficiency.- Alterations of Ventricular Contractility and Myofibril Loss in Taurine-Deficient Hearts.- Developmental Effects of Taurine Depletion on Synaptosomal Phospholipids in the Rat.- Taurine Depletion and Synaptosomal Phospholipid Content in Cat Brain.- Cell Volume Regulation in Taurine Deficient Cultured Astrocytes.- Feline Maternal Taurine Deficiency: Effects on Visual Cortex of the Offspring. A Morphometric and Immunohistochemical Study.- Effects of Postnatal Taurine Deprivation on Visual Cortex Development in Rhesus Monkeys Through One Year of Age.- The Role of Taurine in Mammalian Hearing.- VII: Taurine - Clinical Studies.- The Plasma Concentration and Renal Handling of Taurine in Healthy Children and in Pediatric Patients with Disturbed Sulfur Metabolism.- Breast Milk Taurine and Its Possible Influence on the Development of Breast Milk Induced Jaundice in the Neonate - A Hypothesis.- Taurine in the Newborn and Infant Undergoing Surgery.- Taurine and the Lung: Pharmacological Intervention by Aerosol Route.- Taurine Levels in Plasma and Platelets in Insulin-Dependent and Non-Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus: Correlation with Platelet Aggregation.- Long-Term Effect of Taurine in Congestive Heart Failure: Preliminary Report.- Neuroactive Amino Acids in Synaptosomes from Focal and Nonfocal Temporal Lobe Tissue of Patients with Intractable Complex Partial Seizures.- Participants.

Taurine in health and disease

1. Taurine has recently been known to protect against ischemia and heart failure. Taurine possesses plenty of actions on the ion channels and transports, but is very non-specific. 2. Taurine may directly and indirectly help to regulate the [Ca]i level by modulating the activity of the voltage-dependent Ca2+ channels (also dependent on [Ca]i/[Ca]o), by regulation of Na+ channels, and secondly via Na-Ca exchange and Na(+)-taurine cotransport. 3. Taurine can prevent the Ca2+ ([Ca]o or [Ca]i)-induced cardiac functions. 4. Therefore, it seems possible that taurine could exert the potent cardioprotective actions even under the condition of low [Ca]i levels as well as under the Ca2+ overload condition. 5. The electrophysiological actions of taurine on cardiomyocytes, smooth muscle cells, and neurons from recent studies are summarized.

Review of some actions of taurine on ion channels of cardiac muscle cells and others

Taurine, a ubiquitous endogenous sulfur-containing amino acid, possesses numerous pharmacological and physiological actions, including antioxidant activity, modulation of calcium homeostasis and antiapoptotic effects. There is mounting evidence supporting the utility of taurine as a pharmacological agent against heart disease, including chronic heart failure (CHF). In the past decade, angiotensin II blockade and β-adrenergic inhibition have served as the mainstay in the treatment of CHF. Both groups of pharmaceutical agents decrease mortality and improve the quality of life, a testament to the critical role of the sympathetic nervous system and the renin--angiotensin system in the development of CHF. Taurine has also attracted attention because it has beneficial actions in CHF, in part by its demonstrated inhibition of the harmful actions of the neurohumoral factors. In this review, we summarize the beneficial actions of taurine in CHF, focusing on its antagonism of the catecholamines and angiotensin II.

The effect of taurine on chronic heart failure: actions of taurine against catecholamine and angiotensin II.

Taurine modulates ion influx through cardiac Ca2+ channels

Taurine has been reported to induce a positive inotropy in heart muscle [1–3]. Taurine was also reported to exhibit beneficial effects in the treatment of congestive heart failure [4], and to have protective effects against calcium overload [5,6] and cardiomyopathy [7,8]. Recently, Sperelakis and colleagues reported that taurine also exerts a positive inotropic effect in the perfused embryonic (20-day-old) chick heart, without greatly affecting the slow Ca2+ action potentials accompanying the contractions. They suggested that the positive inotropic effect of taurine was not mediated through an increase in the slow inward Ca2+ current.

Taurine Effects on Action Potentials and Ionic Currents in Chick Myocardial Cells

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Taurine modulates ion influx through cardiac Ca2+ channels

Taurine Effects on Action Potentials and Ionic Currents in Chick Myocardial Cells