Table 1.
Mechanisms underlying cytoprotective actions of taurine to improve clinical and nutritional health of humans
| Cytoprotection | Functions of Taurine |
|---|---|
| Antioxidation | Anti-inflammation by neutralization of hypochlorous to produce taurine chloramine (Kim and Cha, 2014; Marcinkiewicz and Kontny, 2014) |
| Diminishes superoxide by conjugating with uridine of tRNALeu(UUR) in mitochondria (Jong et al., 2012; Schaffer et al., 2014a) | |
| Generates ATP by encoding mitochondrial ND6 protein (Jong et al., 2012; Schaffer et al., 2016; Shetewy et al., 2016) Prevents mitochondrial membrane permeability and apoptosis (Ricci et al., 2008, Shetewy et al., 2016) | |
| Benefits mitochondrial disease, MELAS by providing substrate for taurine conjugation (Rikimaru et al., 2012; Schaffer et al., 2014b) | |
| Energy metabolism | Activates complex I and NADH sensitive enzymes by reducing NADH/NAD+ ratio during glycolysis (Schaffer et al., 2016) |
| Restores fatty acid oxidation by increasing PPARalpha levels (Schaffer et al., 2016) | |
| Conjugates bile acids to facilitate lipid absorption by intestines (Schaffer et al., 2016) | |
| Gene expression | Changes transcription profile of metabolism-related genes (Park et al., 2006) |
| Modulates genes to induce longevity (Ito et al., 2014a) | |
| Changes transcription factors (Schaffer et al., 2016) | |
| Modulates protein phosphorylation and cell signalling (Lombardini, 1996; Ramila et al., 2015) | |
| ER stress | Attenuates ER stress by improving protein folding (Ito et al., 2015a) |
| Ameliorates stroke brain injury by inhibiting ER stress (Gharibani et al., 2015) | |
| Protects neurons in stroke and Alzheimer’s disease (Prentice et al., 2015) | |
| Neuromodulation | Protects CNS by agonizing GABAA, glycine and NMDA receptors (El Idrissi and L’Amoreaux, 2008; Chan et al., 2013) |
| Decreases seizures by binding with GABAA receptor (L’Amoreaux et al., 2010) | |
| Protects against seizures by elevating glutamic acid decarboxylase (El Idrissi and L’Amoreaux, 2008) | |
| Quality control | Protects cardiomyocytes by activating ubiquitin-proteasome system and autophagy (Jong et al., 2015) |
| Attenuates toxin-mediated autophagy (Li et al., 2012; Bai et al., 2016) | |
| Ca2+ homeostasis | Protects heart and brain during myocardial infarction and stroke by diminishing Ca2+ overload (Li et al., 2012; Bai et al., 2016) |
| Taurine loss during ischemia-reperfusion protects heart by reducing hypoxia-induced Ca2+ overload (Schaffer et al., 2002) | |
| Taurine depletion leads to cardiomyopathy due to reduced activity of SR Ca2+ ATPase (Ramila et al., 2015) | |
| Protects brain neurons during epilepsy by inducing Ca2+ binding proteins (Junyent et al., 2010) | |
| Protects neurons against glutamate excitotoxicity by reducing glutamate-induced elevation of [Ca2+]i (Wu et al., 2005) | |
| Osmoregulation | Serves as an organic osmolyte (Schaffer et al., 2002) |