The present study evaluated 53 Irish marine cyanobacteria intending to identify potential producers of mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs) meet the increasing demand for replacing chemical sunscreen with bio-sunscreen. biodiscovery analysis using absorption spectra methanolic extracts identified eight as MAAs a specific content 0.114–0.511 A* mg DW?1. Leptolyngbya tenuis SABC010201 was found po...

To investigate the effect of taurine on the sympathetic nervous system, I observed pressor responses of perfused mesenteric arteries by electrical stimulation and baro-reflex sensitivity of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR/Izm) and control Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY/Izm) treated with taurine. Taurine added to the perfusate suppressed norepinephrine (NE) overflow and the pressor response mediate...

Patterns of glycine and taurine conjugation of bile acids in duodenal juice have been studied in 20 low birth weight babies at 12 and 22 days of age. They were fed from birth on one of three feeds containing different amounts of taurine and its precursors, cysteine and methionone. Taurine conjugation predominated in those fed on human milk throughout the first three weeks of life. In those fed ...

Taurine, a sulfur-containing amino acid, is a normal constituent of the human diet. Little is known of the pharmacokinetics of taurine in man after oral administration. We studied the pharmacokinetics of 4 g taurine in eight healthy male volunteers (median age 27.5, range 22-45) following orally administration in the fasting state in the morning. Blood samples were taken at regular intervals an...

An extracellular nonsynaptic taurine pool of glial origin was recently reported in the substantia nigra (SN). There is previous evidence showing taurine as an inhibitory neurotransmitter in the SN, but the physiological role of this nonsynaptic pool of taurine has not been explored. By using microdialysis methods, we studied the action of local osmolarity on the nonsynaptic taurine pool in the ...

All cats fed a taurine-free casein diet for 23 weeks have shown a nondetectable electroretinogram (ERG) in association with a plasma and retinal taurine deficiency. In the present study, the casein diet was supplemented with either taurine or taurine precursors (methionine or cysteine) for 23 weeks to see if retinal function would be preserved. Cats fed the casein diet supplemented with methion...

The mechanisms of action of endogenous modulatory ligands of connexin channels are largely unknown. Previous work showed that protonated aminosulfonates (AS), notably taurine, directly and reversibly inhibit homomeric and heteromeric channels that contain Cx26, a widely distributed connexin, but not homomeric Cx32 channels. The present study investigated the molecular mechanisms of connexin cha...

Taurine is essential for the hepatic synthesis of bile salts and, although taurine is synthesized mainly in pericentral hepatocytes, taurine and taurine-conjugated bile acids are abundant in periportal hepatocytes. One possible explanation for this discrepancy is that the active supply of taurine to hepatocytes from the blood stream is a key regulatory factor. The purpose of the present study i...

To assess the dynamics of taurine metabolism in vivo, two sets of studies were carried out in healthy volunteers. First, pilot studies were carried in a single human subject to determine the time course of plasma and whole blood isotope enrichment over the course of an 8-h, unprimed continuous infusion of [1,2-(13)C(2)]taurine. Second, five healthy adult males received two tracer infusions on s...

The potential role of taurine on epilepsy and acupuncture anti-convulsion was addressed in the present study. Epilepsy was induced by micro-injection of penicillin into hippocampus of Wistar rats. Taurine was applied by intraperitioneal (i.p.) injection. Electro-acupuncture (EA) was performed on acupoints of DU 20 "Bai Hui" and DU 16 "Feng Fu" along DU channel. Epileptic grades were evaluated b...