Taurine improves the recovery of neuronal function following cerebral hypoxia: an in vitro study.
Rat hippocampal slices were used in the present study to assess the effect of a pretreatment with the amino acid taurine on their ability to recover synaptic function following a standardized hypoxic insult. After 10 min hypoxia, 47% of all control (untreated) slices exhibited recovery of synaptic function (orthodromically evoked CA1 population spike). Of slices pretreated with 0.5, 1.0 or 2.0 mM taurine, 63, 88 and 97% recovered from the same hypoxic insult. This dose-dependent protective effect was biphasic, as 5.0 mM taurine produced no protection. When hypoxia was extended to 15 min, only 20% of the untreated slices recovered, while 88% of slices treated with 1.0 mM taurine recovered their population spike. The same pretreatment attenuated the fall in the population spike amplitude upon Ca2+ depletion. We hypothesize that taurine plays an important role in an endogenous antihypoxic mechanism through the attenuation of Ca2+ movement across the neuronal membrane.
D000818:Animals; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000503:physiopathology; D002534:Hypoxia, Brain / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008297:Male; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000503:physiopathology; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D013654:Taurine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013997:Time Factors
D013654:Taurine; D002118:Calcium