Abstract
The brain must possess mechanisms that enables it to adjust to changes in plasma osmolality. Such changes can be quite pronounced in a number of conditions, including diabetes and certain renal and gastrointestinal disorders (31), and would have had deleterious consequences more often were it not for the brain’s capacity to counteract the accompanying volume changes. It is clear that the brain responds to osmotic stress by regulating its electrolyte contents (1). However, as large fluctuations in intracellular electrolyte concentrations may interfere with cell function in various ways, the ability to use nonperturbing, organic osmolytes would represent a definite advantage. Several organic compounds show a decreased concentration in brain following experimentally induced hypoosmolality, suggesting that they are involved in osmoregulation (13). The largest concentration changes are exhibited by amino acids such as taurine, glutamate, and glutamine. But other compounds including creatine also show a conspicuous decrease. There is also evidence that the major organic osmolytes of the kidney are present in the brain and act in a similar capacity there (35).
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Nagelhus, E.A., Amiry-Moghaddam, M., Lehmann, A., Ottersen, O.P. (1994). Taurine as an Organic Osmolyte in the Intact Brain: Immunocytochemical and Biochemical Studies. In: Huxtable, R.J., Michalk, D. (eds) Taurine in Health and Disease. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 359. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-1471-2_33
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