Taurine (2-aminoethanesulfonic acid) is an enigmatic compound abounding in animal tissues. It is present at relatively high concentrations in all electrically excitable tissues such as brain, sensory organs, heart, and muscle, and in certain endocrine glands. Some of its physiological functions are already established, for example as an essential nutrient during development and as a neuromodulator or osmolyte, but the cellular mechanisms are still mostly a matter of conjecture. Moreover, there are a number of other putative functions of taurine less well known at present. Taurine 7 contains the proceedings of the 16th International Taurine Meeting. This meeting is a multidisciplinary symposium, with participants presenting different fields of biological science. This volume focuses on all aspects of taurine research from immunology and its effect on health to chemistry and biochemistry, including future clinical applications.

There has been an increasing interest in the biological action of taurine from metabolic aspects to other biological aspects (nutrition, development, etc.). In 1975 it was first demonstrated that taurine deprivation product retinal degeneration that taurine deprivation produced retinal degeneration in cats: more recent studies showed that a taurine-free diet or the administration of taurine transport inhibitors caused retinal degeneration in other mammlas. More recent studies have pointed out the role of taurine in development, and the first part of this book is dedicated to these topics. From the pioneer work of Read and Welty, which showed the antiarrhythmic action of taurine, particular attention has been focussed on the effect of taurine on cardiovascular regulation. One important issue is inotropism and the cardioprotective effect of taurine.

The Taurine Symposium- "Taurine: Beginning the 21'' Century"- was held September 20-23, 2002, on the beautiful island of Kauai in Hawaii. The headquarters of the meeting was the Radisson Kauai Beach Resort. This international meeting was attending by approximately 80 individuals from 23 nations and 4 continents. Seventy-five papers were presented either as platform presentations or poster presentations. Taurine, first isolated from ox bile in 1827 by Tiedemann and Gmelin and named in 1838 by Demarcay, became of significant scientific interest in 1968 when the first extensive review article was published by Jacobsen and Smith. Interest in taurine grew exponentially after 1975 when the first taurine symposium was organized by Ryan Huxtable in Tucson, Arizona. Since that date, taurine symposia have been held approximately every two years held in various cities and resort areas around the world. Taurine investigators have had the privilege of attending these scientific meetings on three continents - Asia, Europe, and North America. Since the initial meeting in 1975, a central question addressed during many of the symposia has been: "What is physiological, pharmacological, nutritional, and pathological role of taurine?". Although taurine has been established as an important osmolyte, it appears to affect many other biological processes. However, the exact mechanism(s) by "which taurine acts" has not yet been definitively answered. In Kauai, the patticipants discussed many topics and asked many questions regarding the role and actions of taurine.

Proceedings of the International Taurine Symposium '97: Neurochemistry, Biochemistry, and Pharmacology held in Tucson, Arizona, July 15-19, 1997

Taurine (2-aminoethanesulfonic acid) is an enigmatic compound abounding in animal tissues. Some of its physiological functions are already established, but the cellular mechanisms are still mostly a matter of conjecture. The 15th International Taurine Meeting offered a multidisciplinary symposium, with participants representing a range of fields of biological science. Based on the proceedings of this meeting, Taurine 6: Taurine Today presents current research on Taurine by top scientists in the field.

Mitochondria from mammalian tissues possess an elaborate system for 2+ 2+ transporting Ca across their inner membrane which consists of Ca import, 2+ via the Ca uniporter, in response to the mitochondrial membrane 2+ + potential ?? and of Ca release by an antiport system in exchange for H + 9,23 or Na (see Fig. l) . Because the uniporter is dependent upon the external 2+ 2+ 2+ 2+ Ca concentration ([Ca ]), mitochondria accumulate Ca until the [Ca ] o o 2+ decreases to the level at which the uniporter activity balances the Ca efflux. 2+ The [Ca ] at which the uniporter and efflux activities are equal is defined o the “setpoint” andcorresponds to values between 0.3-3μM. 2+ Figure 1. The Ca transport system of the inner membrane of mammalian mitochondria. U, + 2+ + + uniporter. I, Na -independent efflux mechanism or Ca /2H exchanger. D, Na -dependent 2+ + efflux mechanism or Ca /2Na exchanger. PTP, permeability transition pore. FP, 11 flavoprotein. ?? membrane potential. ? pH gradient. Adapted from .

Proceedings of the International Symposium on Cardiac Ion Channels and Effects of Taurine on the Heart (Seoul, Korea, 1992)

This monograph presents the latest developments in the understanding of the functions of taurine, not only as an essential nutrient, but also its possible role as a neurotransmitter or osmoregulator. Each section of the book is introduced by a short review article providing a unifying overview of recent work in specific areas. Among the major topical areas treated are cellular and subcellular distribution of taurine and taurine synthesizing enzymes in the nervous system, neurotransmitter, neuromodulatory and trophic actions of taurine, and taurine uptake and release.