An enzymatic derivative double isotope assay for measuring tissue levels of taurine

JB Lombardini

The development of a new assay for taurine is described. The procedure utilizes the formation of taurocholic acid by rat liver microsomes and is dependent upon the dilution of the specific activity of radioactive taurine by the amount of taurine present in perchloric acid homogenates of tissues. Known amounts of taurine (21/2-300 nmol) are added to incubation vessels to establish a standard curve so that unknown quantities of taurine present in tissue homogenates can be calculated by a graphical comparison. The possible interference by other compounds present in tissue extracts and their removal by passage through columns containing both cation and anion exchange resins is discussed. Conditions are established for the quantitative recovery of taurine after passage through the exchange resins. Measurement of the taurine levels of several rat tissues is presented along with duplicate assays performed on the amino acid analyzer for comparison purposes.

Volume 193, Issue 1, pp. 301-308, 04/01/1975
Copyright © 1975 by American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. D Militante, J. B Lombardini, and S. W Schaffer The role of taurine in the pathogenesis of the cardiomyopathy of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus Cardiovasc Res, June 1, 2000; 46(3): 393 - 402. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]