Abstract
Although taurine (2-aminoethanesulfonic acid) has long been known to be present in high concentrations in the mammalian CNS, the suggestion that it may act as an inhibitory neurotransmitter or neuromodulator in the brain is relatively recent (1,6,23). Among other areas in the brain, especially high concentrations of taurine and its synthetic enzyme, cysteine sulfinic acid decarboxylase have been found in the neostriatum (ST) and substantia nigra (SN) (7,8,17,30,31). In spite of this, very little is known about the function of taurine in the basal ganglia. The inhibitory action exerted on nigral neurons by iontophoretic application of taurine (5) and the contralateral circling behavior induced by taurine injections into the SN (12, 13,20) suggest some role for this amino acid in nigral functions.
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© 1987 Springer Science+Business Media New York
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Della Corte, L., Clarke, D.J., Bolam, J.P., Smith, A.D. (1987). Uptake, Localization and Release of Taurine in the Rat Basal Ganglia. In: Huxtable, R.J., Franconi, F., Giotti, A. (eds) The Biology of Taurine. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 217. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0405-8_30
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0405-8_30
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