Beneficial Effect of Intravenous Taurine Infusion on Electroretinographic Disorder in Taurine Deficient Rats

Abstract

ABSTRACT-We investigated the effect of intravenous taurine infusion on the electroretinogram (ERG) of taurine-deficient rats produced by treatment with guanidinoethyl sulfonate (GES), a taurine transport inhibitor. Mother rats were fed a taurine-free diet and given drinking water containing 1% GES from 2 weeks of gestation to weaning. The same feeding conditions were applied to male offspring after weaning. Both ERG measurement and continuous infusion of taurine at a dose of 10, 30 or 100 mg/animal/day were performed for 3 weeks from 7 to 10 weeks of age. GES-treatment reduced a and b-wave amplitudes to 50% of the control levels and also increased b-wave latencies. Intravenous infu sion of taurine improved these ERG abnormalities in a dose-dependent manner. Taurine concentrations in plasma, eyes and brain were also decreased by treatment with GES, and dose-dependent recovery was observed after infusion with taurine, although the concentrations of other amino acids were not affected by GES-treatment and infusion of taurine. Observations of morphological changes revealed that the retinal damage in GES-treated animals was decreased by taurine infusion. These results indi cate that the changes in ERG and retinal structure observed in taurine deficiency are improved by in travenous infusion of taurine.

SAFETY PROFILE OF A TAURINE CONTAINING IRRIGATION SOLUTION (AcriProTect) IN PARS PLANA VITRECTOMY

“…11 Decreased amplitudes and increased implicit times of b-and/or a-wave in the Ganzfeld-electroretinography (ERG) of taurine depleted rats have already been reported. 12,13 In tissue culture and bioassay experiments a significant improvement of the microcellular integrity and the cell survival rate as well as a neuroprotective effect under ischemia could be shown. 14 It has been suggested that the retinal damage following exposition to light (as for instance under the operating microscope) is probably associated with the release of taurine from the retina through the retinal pigment epithelium into the choroids.…”

Taurine deficiency damages retinal neurones: cone photoreceptors and retinal ganglion cells

“…In the retina, decreased taurine uptake was also found to induce retinal degeneration indicated by disorganization of the outer nuclear layer (ONL) with photoreceptor damage and eventually cell death (Hayes et al 1975; Schmidt et al 1976; Anderson et al 1979; Barnett and Burger 1980; Lake and Malik 1987; Imaki et al 1993, 1998; Leon et al 1995). In some of these studies, some retinal dysfunction was also evidenced by eletroretinogram measurements (Jacobson et al 1987; Quesada et al 1988; Shimada et al 1992). …”