![]() Taurine intracellular effects are directed toward calcium homeostatic pathway, reducing calcium overload and thus preventing excitotoxicity, mitochondrial stress, and apoptosis. The extracellular effects include binding to neuronal GABA A and glycine receptors, with subsequent cellular hyperpolarization, and attenuation of N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA)-mediated glutamate excitotoxicity. Astrocytes release taurine as a gliotransmitter, promoting both extracellular and intracellular effects in neurons. Taurine has antioxidative, osmoregulatory, and anti-inflammatory functions, among other cytoprotective properties. A metabolic coupling between astrocytes and neurons has been reported, in which astrocytes provide neurons with hypotaurine as a substrate for taurine production. Synthesis of taurine in the central nervous system (CNS) occurs predominantly in astrocytes. Taurine is required for optimal postnatal brain development however, its brain concentration decreases with age. Even though there are endogenous mechanisms for taurine production in neural cells, an exogenous supply of taurine is required to meet physiological needs. Taurine is considered the most abundant free amino acid in the brain. 2Grupo de Investigación en Ciencias Biomédicas GRINCIBIO, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Antonio Nariño, Bogotá, Colombia. ![]() 1Grupo de Investigación en Neurociencias (NeURos), Centro de Neurociencias Neurovitae-UR, Instituto de Medicina Traslacional (IMT), Escuela de Medicina y Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad del Rosario, Bogotá, Colombia.Orrego-González 1, Ricardo Cabezas-Pérez 2 and Rodrigo E. Sofía Ramírez-Guerrero 1, Santiago Guardo-Maya 1, Germán J. ![]()
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