title: Pharmacokinetics of oral taurine in healthy volunteers.
abstract: 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 and plasma taurine concentration was measured by a modified HPLC method. Data were subjected to noncompartmental analysis. Maximum plasma taurine concentration (C(max)) was measured at 1.5 ± 0.6 hr after administration as 86.1 ± 19.0 mg/L (0.69 ± 0.15 mmol). Plasma elimination half-life (T(1/2)) and the ratio of clearance/bioavailability (Cl/F) were 1.0 ± 0.3 hr and 21.1 ± 7.8 L/hr, respectively. Since taurine is occasionally used in therapeutics as a medicine, the pharmacokinetics and effects of oral taurine in healthy volunteers would be useful in the future studies of taurine in pharmacology and nutrition.
authors.affiliation: NPMC, Hemmatology and Oncology Research Centre, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammadreza
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ghandforoush-Sattari
authors.forename: Siminozar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mashayekhi
authors.forename: Channarayapatna V
authors.initials: CV
authors.lastname: Krishna
authors.forename: John P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.forename: Philipp A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Routledge