Abstract
Taurine exerts a positive inotropic effect in guinea-pig hearts (1,2,3,4,5). This effect seems to be mediated by calcium. In fact, Dolara et al. (2,6) suggest that taurine modifies calcium exchange, and Huxtable and Bressler (7) demonstrate that taurine modifies calcium binding and uptake in rat muscle endoplasmic reticulum. As regards calcium binding to rat myocardial plasma membranes the data are in contrast, indicating that taurine both increases (8) and decreases (9) this binding. In order to clarify the action of taurine on cardiac contraction we studied the effect of taurine on guinea-pig ventricular strips at different calcium concentrations, and the interaction between taurine and calcium antagonists on the same preparations. At the same time, since it is likely that the key factor in the activation of contractile response in smooth muscle is a rise in the cytoplasmic free calcium concentration (10), it seemed of interest to study also the effect of this sulfonic aminoacid on vascular smooth muscle.
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© 1982 Plenum Press, New York
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Franconi, F., Giotti, A., Manzini, S., Martini, F., Stendardi, I., Zilletti, L. (1982). Observations on the Action of Taurine at Arterial and Cardiac Levels. In: Huxtable, R.J., Pasantes-Morales, H. (eds) Taurine in Nutrition and Neurology. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 139. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-0402-0_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-0402-0_12
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