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Putative Role of Taurine as Neurotransmitter During Perinatal Cortical Development

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Taurine 10

Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((AEMB,volume 975))

Abstract

Neurotransmitters and neuronal activity affect neurodevelopmental events like neurogenesis, neuronal migration, apoptosis and differentiation. Beside glutamate and gamma-amino butyric acid, the aminosulfonic acid taurine has been considered as possible neurotransmitter that influences early neuronal development. In this article I review recent studies of our group which demonstrate that taurine can affect a variety of identified neuronal populations in the immature neocortex and directly modulates neuronal activity. These experiments revealed that taurine evoke dose-dependent membrane responses in a variety of neocortical neuron populations, including Cajal-Retzius cells, subplate neurons and GABAergic interneurons. Taurine responses persist in the presence of GABA(A) receptor antagonists and are reduced by the addition of strychnine, suggesting that glycine receptors are involved in taurine-mediated membrane responses. Gramicidin-perforated patch-clamp and cell-attached recordings demonstrated that taurine evokes depolarizing and mainly excitatory membrane responses, in accordance with the high intracellular Cl− concentration in immature neurons. In addition, taurine increases the frequency of postsynaptic GABAergic currents (PSCs) in a considerable fraction of immature pyramidal neurons, indicating a specific activation of presynaptic GABAergic networks projecting toward and exciting pyramidal neurons. In summary, these results suggest that taurine may be critically involved in the regulation of network excitability in the immature neocortex and hippocampus via interactions with glycine receptors.

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Abbreviations

ACSF:

Artificial cerebrospinal fluid

CNS:

Central nervous system

CRc:

Cajal-Retzius cells

GABA:

γ Amino butyric acid

GES:

Guanidinoethanesulfonic acid

GFP:

Green fluorescent protein

PSC:

Postsynaptic current

SPn:

Subplate neurons

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Acknowledgements

The author thanks Prof. H.J. Luhmann and Prof. A. Fukuda for their constant support. This work was supported by DFG grant KI-835 to WK.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Physiology, University Medical Center, Johannes-Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany

    Werner Kilb

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  1. Werner Kilb
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Correspondence to Werner Kilb .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Life Sciences, University of Seoul, Seoul, South Korea

    Dong-Hee Lee  & Ha Won Kim  & 

  2. College of Medicine, University of South Alabama, Mobile, Alabama, USA

    Stephen W. Schaffer

  3. Department of Developmental Neurobiology, NY State Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities, New York, USA

    Eunkyue Park

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Kilb, W. (2017). Putative Role of Taurine as Neurotransmitter During Perinatal Cortical Development. In: Lee, DH., Schaffer, S.W., Park, E., Kim, H.W. (eds) Taurine 10. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 975. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1079-2_25

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