Biochemistry and physiology of taurine and taurine derivatives.

Abstract

This review has attempted to summarize information on taurine and some of its derivatives. Extensive data demonstrate that taurine is present ubiquitously in animals, but is present in few plants apart from the most primitive organisms. The concentrations of taurine in invertebrate, vertebrate, and mammalian tissues are often remarkably high. Taurine is conjugated with bile acids in many vertebrates above the selachians, but few other roles for taurine in animal physiology are known. The bile salts formed are important in several phases of fat absorption: lipolysis, micelle formation, and intracellular re-esterification of fatty acids. They also control the rate of intestinal cholesterogenesis and indirectly the rate of elimination of cholesterol (as derivative bile acids). A function for taurine in the osmoregulation of certain marine invertebrates appears to be well established. More extensive work along these lines may show that taurine participates in the osmoregulator adaptations of many more euryhaline species than is presently known. There is some evidence that taurine is concerned in impulse transmission in the nervous system. Much more must be learned about the details of intracellular taurine synthesis and metabolism before it can be accepted as a neuroinhibitor. Taurine was recently discovered to have an effect on cardiac excitability, presumably due to its conversion to isethionic acid. It is clear from the data summarized in this review that much remains to be learned about the origin, fate, and function of taurine in biological systems.