title: Response of the kitten to dietary taurine depletion: effects on renal reabsorption, bile acid conjugation and activities of enzymes involved in taurine synthesis.
abstract: Kittens were adapted to a semipurified diet and then fed either a control diet that contained 0.1% taurine or a taurine-free diet for 6 weeks; at the end of the feeding period, kittens fed the taurine-free diet had plasma and liver taurine concentrations that were 0.38 and 0.15%, respectively, of those for control kittens. Hepatic cysteinesulfinate decarboxylase activity in taurine-deficient kittens was five-times the level in control kittens, but hepatic cysteine dioxygenase activity was not affected by the dietary treatment. Taurine-conjugated bile acids made up 98% of the total bile acids in the gall bladder of control kittens, but they accounted for only 44% of the total bile acids in the bile of taurine-depleted kittens; both the concentrations of taurine-conjugated bile acids and total bile acids were markedly decreased in taurine-deficient kittens. No effect of taurine depletion on the fractional excretion of taurine in the urine was observed. The kitten may have some mechanisms for adapting to a low-taurine diet, but these are clearly not sufficient to maintain tissue taurine levels in the absence of dietary taurine.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001646:Bile / Q000378:metabolism; D001647:Bile Acids and Salts / Q000378:metabolism*; D002262:Carboxy-Lyases / Q000378:metabolism*; D002415:Cats; D050558:Cysteine Dioxygenase; D004032:Diet; D049308:Dioxygenases; D007668:Kidney / Q000378:metabolism*; D007700:Kinetics; D008099:Liver / Q000378:metabolism; D010105:Oxygenases / Q000378:metabolism*; D013654:Taurine / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000172:deficiency* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D001647:Bile Acids and Salts; D013654:Taurine; D010105:Oxygenases; D049308:Dioxygenases; D050558:Cysteine Dioxygenase; D002262:Carboxy-Lyases; C019972:sulfoalanine decarboxylase