Watanabe Miho, Ito Takashi, Fukuda Atsuo
Department of Neurophysiology, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu 431-3192, Japan.
Department of Bioscience and Technology, Graduate School of Bioscience and Technology, Fukui Prefectural University, Fukui 910-1195, Japan.
Metabolites. 2022 Jul 9;12(7):631. doi: 10.3390/metabo12070631.
Taurine (2-aminoethanesulfonic acid) plays an important role in various physiological functions and is abundant in the brain and skeletal muscle. Extracellular taurine is an endogenous agonist of gamma-aminobutyric acid type A and glycine receptors. Taurine actively accumulates in cells via the taurine transporter (TauT). Adult taurine-knockout () mice exhibit lower body weights and exercise intolerance. To further examine the physiological role of taurine, we examined the effect of its depletion on mouse behavior, startle responses, muscular endurance, and body weight during development from postnatal day 0 (P0) until P60. In the elevated plus maze test, mice showed decreased anxiety-like behavior. In addition, mice did not show a startle response to startle stimuli, suggesting they have difficulty hearing. Wire-hang test revealed that muscular endurance was reduced in mice. Although a reduction of body weight was observed in mice during the developmental period, changes in body weight during 60% food restriction were similar to wild-type mice. Collectively, these results suggest that taurine has important roles in anxiety-like behavior, hearing, muscular endurance, and maintenance of body weight.
牛磺酸（2-氨基乙磺酸）在多种生理功能中发挥重要作用，且在大脑和骨骼肌中含量丰富。细胞外牛磺酸是γ-氨基丁酸A型和甘氨酸受体的内源性激动剂。牛磺酸通过牛磺酸转运体（TauT）在细胞内主动积累。成年牛磺酸基因敲除小鼠体重较低且运动耐力差。为进一步研究牛磺酸的生理作用，我们检测了从出生后第0天（P0）到第60天发育期间牛磺酸缺乏对小鼠行为、惊吓反应、肌肉耐力和体重的影响。在高架十字迷宫试验中，基因敲除小鼠表现出焦虑样行为减少。此外，基因敲除小鼠对惊吓刺激没有惊吓反应，表明它们听力有问题。悬线试验显示基因敲除小鼠的肌肉耐力降低。虽然在发育期间观察到基因敲除小鼠体重下降，但在60%食物限制期间体重变化与野生型小鼠相似。总体而言，这些结果表明牛磺酸在焦虑样行为、听力、肌肉耐力和体重维持中起重要作用。
