[Taurine--recent views and importance for artificial feeding].

Taurine is an important age- and compartment-specific part of the pool of free amino acids in all human tissues and fluids examined. Besides an active taurine transport system, the mechanisms to assure compartment-specific taurine-homeostasis in humans is presumably due to a compartment-specific taurine synthesis. By the identity of cysteine-sulfinic acid - and glutamate-oxalate transaminase as well as of cysteine-sulfinic acid - and glutamic acid decarboxylase taurine biosynthesis via cysteine-sulfinic acid shows direct metabolic relationship between biochemical pathway of cysteine-sulfinic acid and taurine on one side, and of the dicarbonic acid and their biological decarboxylates on the other side. In the parenteral and enteral nutrition of premature babies as well as of adults with portosystemic encephalopathy or with extreme thiamine deficiency, there is - besides an inconstant parallel of exogenous taurine supply and plasma taurine homeostasis - a constant parallel between definitely lowered plasma taurine concentrations and comparably distinct disturbance of the homeostasis of the dicarbonic acids and/or their biosynthetic products. A metabolic connection seems likely. The hypothesis of Sturman et al. in 1976 that taurine is an essential part of the human nutrition at least in the premature or full-term newborn phase of life could not be supported in the subsequent studies of different groups of authors - neither in relation to the nitrogen balance, childhood-development, hepatic cellular function, biliary-acid metabolism, intestinal fat absorption nor any organ-specific function. The nutritional value of taurine in humans still remains unclear in regard to specific physiologic as well as specific pathophysiologic phase of metabolism.