Taurine and neurotransmission

Taurine is enriched in electrically excitable tissues such as brain, retina, heart and skeletal muscles. Since the 1960s it has been envisaged to act in the central nervous system as a neurotransmitter, neuromodulator, neuroprotector, membrane stabilizer, endogenous antiepileptic agent, cell volume regulator, and thought to maintain calcium homeostasis and membrane integrity [1]. Of the many proposed functions we here review the role of taurine in neurotransmission and endeavor to draw inferences as to whether it could qualify as a neurotransmitter or neuromodulator. The neurotransmitter function implies the existence of specific taurine receptors and the neuromodulatory role an interference with the functions of other transmitter systems. There is but scant evidence to corroborate the first assumption, but ample for the latter [2, 3].