<TITLE: Release and Neuromodulatory Effects of Taurine in the Rodent Striatum
ACADEMIC DOMAIN: medicine
DISCIPLINE: internal medicine
EVENT TYPE: doctoral defence presentation
FILE ID: UDEFP130
NOTES: continued in UDEFD130

RECORDING DURATION: 8 min 43 sec

RECORDING DATE: 14.12.2006

NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS: unknown

NUMBER OF SPEAKERS: 2

S1: NATIVE-SPEAKER STATUS: Finnish; ACADEMIC ROLE: senior staff; GENDER: female; AGE: 51-over

S2: NATIVE-SPEAKER STATUS: Russian; ACADEMIC ROLE: research student; GENDER: female; AGE: 24-30>


<S2> well dear <FOREIGN> kustos </FOREIGN> my esteemed opponent ladies and gentlemen as a aim of my PhD study is related to taurine in the introductionary lecture i would like to give a brief description of the role of this amino acid in our (xx) , in brief i will focus on er quantity of taurine in the human body er its sources and er approved or proposed application in medicine and related fields . taurine has been first isolated from the bile of ox in , er </S2>
<S1> <ADJUSTING THE LIGHTS> oh you need them </S1>
<S2> mhm , in the 1827 and the first proposed physiological function for for taurine was a conjugation of the bile salts however the extensive research on taurine was started only in the 1960s and then it was shown that taurine is abundant in many animal tissues and serves various physiological functions including osmoregulation neuromodulation er cell membrane stabilisation regulation of intracellular calcium fluxes and (defixification) , taurine is non-essential amino acid for rodent essential amino acid for cats and a conditionally essential amino acid for humans and the mean human (xx) contains about 70 grams of taurine with the high con- highest concentrations in blood cells liver heart and the brain . er the sources of taurine supply are intake with food and synthesis from the precursors system (xx) er the er ability to synthesise taurine in the tissues er determines er its importance whether for the dietary intake erm in humans a daily intake of taurine is usually 60 to 400 milligrams daily the main food sources of taurine are meat fish and marine species er plants don't contain taurine at all so vegetarians may be at risk to have a deficiency of taurine , er the main er synthesis of taurine in the human body comprises to about 50 to 125 milligrams er however this value may be reduced under some pathological conditions and stress neonates are also at deficiency rik- risk because of the enzymatic immaturity so despite of the regular intake of taurine in food and er the presence of enzymatic muscular (xx) synthesis some groups of people may er require the additional supply of taurine , taurine is nowadays produced by several companies as a dietary supplement er <COUGH> er they prescribe they are prescribed for people who are at risk of taurine deficiency namely vegetarians per- or patients (xx) parental nutrition and patients with the li- liver or renal failure , however the descriptions given by (xx) are very wide and apparently include all states of (xx) er the recommended daily dosage is quite high as high especially compared to the usual intake of taurine with the diet and the maximum safe dosage of taurine comprises of about 70 grams daily which is quite high actually and er however this value is not confirmed yet , taurine is now an approved medication for several diseases for example it's approved to treat er cardiovascular disorders in japan and the beneficial effect of taurine is related to er antioxidant effects of taurine and its ability to regulate the calcium fluxes in the inside the cell taurine may be used also to treat the eye diseases and its befi- beneficial effect in this case is related to er er promoting er the re- regeneration of retinal cells , the taurine derivative acamprosate is nowadays licensed for used er in europe and it's used for compensation of alcohol withdrawal syndrome and taurine is an obligatory ingredient of parental nutrition at infant formula due to lack of taurine supply er by usual (xx) in these cases , due to its wide physiological functions taurine is er thought to be a beneficial ingredient in several other types of diseases including type one diabetes hepatitis hypertension alcoholism ischemia stroke and epilepsy and the possible beneficial effects of taurine in these cases is mainly related to its antioxidant effects and modulator- neu- neuromodulatory functions er in some cases clinical trials have been performed however the the beneficial effect of long-term application of taurine is not confirmed yet , taurine is not is er not only used in medicine and related fields since er it's an obligatory nutrient for cats it's essential (accompaniant) for a cat cat diet er cats require additional supply of taurine because of a very low rate of synthesis of this substance in their tissues and moreover taurine is a only one component which can conjugate with the bile acids in this species er the deficiency of taurine may evoke several disorders including blindness and myocardial failure and veterinary descriptions say that the minimal dose of taurine in the cat food should be one gram per kilogram or (doubled) five grams per kilogram er depending of the type of the diet , taurine is one of the main components of so-called energy drinks energy drinks were first developed in austria in 18- o- in 1984 and the composition of these drinks were originally copied from a national diet drink and the main ingredients include caffeine vitamins glucoronolactone and taurine er these energy drinks are now in sale in several european countries however because of the serious health problems are possibly connected to er the er consumption of energy drinks er the safety of tre- these drinks is now still under questions er the energy drinks are nowadays prohibited for sale in norway france and denmark , the european committee on food of the european er commission er evaluated the safety of of use for er energy drinks and its (simple) components it is reported that (xx) er energy drink consumers usually take five times higher dosage of taurine compared to the er people consuming the usual type this value is still less than the proposed maximum safe dose of taurine er several reports said er showed er beneficial effect of er energy drinks on the human mood an- and the level of performance er the possible toxic effects of energy drinks and its several components were studied in er animal studies it was shown that neither energy drink nor er its several components are toxic for rats however the long-term application of high dosages of taurine leads to increased locomotor activity in rodents the committee concluded that energy drinks are not toxic in general however the additional neurological studies would be beneficial to prove its safe- or safety , in overall taurine is an important component of our diet and possibly usable in medication howe- ever we still know a little about this amino acid i hope that my thesis er contributes to a better understanding overall and er functions of taurine in the human bodies . professor <NAME S3> i respect- respectively (beg you) as the opponent duly appointed by the faculty of medicine for my dissertation to present your criticism o- of my doctoral dissertation </S2>
