Taurine, or 2-aminoethane sulfonic acid, has long been known to be the major organic product formed from the breakdown of the sulfur-containing amino acids, methionine and cysteine. It is excreted as such in the urine or as bile acid conjugates in the bile. Research over the last 25 years, however, has uncovered an amazing variety of phenomena involving taurine. Despite the fact that the mechanism of action of taurine in some of these phenomena remains to be elucidated, it is clear that taurine is of far more physiological relevance than being the mere metabolic debris of sulfur amino acid catabolism. It also has numerous pharmacological actions that are beginning to be developed, as exemplified by some of the studies reported in this volume. This volume reports the proceedings of the latest of a series of international symposia, continuing on from the initial meeting held in Tucson, Arizona, in 1975. The latest symposium was the first to be held in Germany, in Cologne from August 29 through September 1, 1993. It continued the multidisciplinary approach that has been the norm for taurine symposia. We hope the publication of the proceedings will stimulate further investigations on this simple but fascinating compound.

Autorentext
Prof. Dr. med. Dietrich V. Michalk, geb. 1944 in Zucklau/Schlesien, Medizinstudium in Heidelberg. Oberarzt der Universitätsklinik Erlangen, Aufbau und Leitung der Pädiatrischen Nephrologie. Von 1988 bis 2010 Lehrstuhl für Kinderheilkunde an der Universität Köln. Seit 1.4.2010 emeritiert.
Schwerpunkte: Nephrologie, Infektions- und Autoimmunerkrankungen.

Inhalt
I: Chemistry, Biochemistry and Metabolism of Taurine.- Possible Relationships Between Taurine Derivatives and Products of the Metabolism of Ketimines.- The Inhibitory Effects of Taurine on Protein Phosphorylation: Comparison of Various Characteristics of the Taurine-Affected Phosphoproteins Present in Rat Retina, Brain and Heart.- Effect of Photolytically Generated Riboflavin Radicals and Oxygen on Hypotaurine Antioxidant Free Radical Scavenging Activity.- Taurine Protects Against Oxidant-Induced Lung Injury: Possible Mechanism(s) of Action.- Sulphur Amino Acids and the Metabolic Response to Cytokines.- Expression and Regulation of the Taurine Transporter in Cultured Cell Lines of Human Origin.- Dietary Taurine Requirement of Cats Is Determined by Microbial Degradation of Taurine in the Gut.- Reactivity of Taurine with Aldehydes and its Physiological Role.- II: Taurine and the Liver.- Hepatic Regulation of Cysteine Utilization for Taurine Synthesis.- Immunohistochemical Localization of Taurine-Conjugated Bile Acids in the Liver of Mouse, Rat, Monkey and Human.- Effects of Taurine on Microsomal Enzyme Activities Involved in Liver Lipid Metabolism of Wistar Rats.- III: Taurine and the Kidney.- Inhibitors of Anion Exchanger Activity Reduce Sodium Chloride-Dependent Taurine Transport by Brush Border Vesicles.- Expression of Taurine Transporter and its Regulation by Diet in Xenopus laevis Oocytes Following Injection of Rat Kidney Cortex mRNA.- Regulation of Taurine Transport by External Taurine Concentration and Medium Osmolality in Renal Tubular Cells in Culture.- Role of Taurine in the Kidney: Osmoregulatory Taurine Accumulation in Renal Medulla.- Taurine and Experimental Kidney Disease.- Protecting Effect of Taurine Against Hypoxic Cell Damage in Renal Tubular Cells Cultured in Different Transplant Preservation Solutions.- IV: Taurine in Muscle and the Cardiovascular System.- Mechanisms Underlying Physiological and Pharmacological Actions of Taurine on Myocardial Calcium Transport.- Cardioprotective Actions of Taurine Against Intracellular and Extracellular Calcium-Induced Effects.- Antihypertensive Effect of Taurine on Salt-Induced Hypertension.- The Effect of Taurine on Blood Pressure, and Urinary Sodium, Potassium and Calcium Excretion.- Dual Effects of Taurine on Membrane Ionic Conductances of Rat Skeletal Muscle Fibers.- V: Taurine and the Nervous System.- New Data on the Regulation of Taurine Uptake in Cultured Nervous Cells.- Changes in the Localization of Taurine-Like Immunoreactivity During Development and Regeneration in the Rat Brain.- Transmitter and Electrical Stimulation of [3H]Taurine Release from Rat Sympathetic Ganglia.- Cysteine Sulfinate Decarboxylase in Brain: Identification, Characterization and Immunocytochemical Location in Astrocytes.- Relations of Taurine Release and Influx to Cell Volumes in Cerebral Cortical Slices.- Taurine Release from Mouse Hippocampal Slices: Effects of Glutamatergic Substances and Hypoxia.- Taurine Neurons in Rat Hippocampal Formation Are Relatively Inert to Cerebral Ischemia.- Calcium and Taurine Interaction in Mammalian Brain Metabolism.- Regulation of Protein Kinase C Activity by Taurine and ?-Alanine during Excitotoxicity in Cat and Mouse Cerebellar Cultures.- Volume Regulation in Cultured Neurons: Pivotal Role of Taurine.- Taurine as an Organic Osmolyte in the Intact Brain: Immunocytochemical and Biochemical Studies.- VI: Taurine Deficiency.- Alterations of Ventricular Contractility and Myofibril Loss in Taurine-Deficient Hearts.- Developmental Effects of Taurine Depletion onSynaptosomal Phospholipids in the Rat.- Taurine Depletion and Synaptosomal Phospholipid Content in Cat Brain.- Cell Volume Regulation in Taurine Deficient Cultured Astrocytes.- Feline Maternal Taurine Deficiency: Effects on Visual Cortex of the Offspring. A Morphometric and Immunohistochemical Study.- Effects of Postnatal Taurine Deprivation on Visual Cortex Development in Rhesus Monkeys Through One Year of Age.- The Role of Taurine in Mammalian Hearing.- VII: Taurine Clinical Studies.- The Plasma Concentration and Renal Handling of Taurine in Healthy Children and in Pediatric Patients with Disturbed Sulfur Metabolism.- Breast Milk Taurine and Its Possible Influence on the Development of Breast Milk Induced Jaundice in the Neonate A Hypothesis.- Taurine in the Newborn and Infant Undergoing Surgery.- Taurine and the Lung: Pharmacological Intervention by Aerosol Route.- Taurine Levels in Plasma and Platelets in Insulin-Dependent and Non-Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus: Correlation with Platelet Aggregation.- Long-Term Effect of Taurine in Congestive Heart Failure: Preliminary Report.- Neuroactive Amino Acids in Synaptosomes from Focal and Nonfocal Temporal Lobe Tissue of Patients with Intractable Complex Partial Seizures.- Participants.