In addition, taurine deficiency can cause feline dilated cardiomyopathy, and supplementation can reverse left ventricular systolic dysfunction. This condition is called central retinal degeneration (CRD). The absence of taurine causes a cat's retina to slowly degenerate, causing eye problems and (eventually) irreversible blindness. Taurine is essential for cat health, as a cat cannot synthesize the compound. Taurine has also been shown in diabetic rats to decrease weight and decrease blood sugar. Taurine is also used in some contact lens solutions. Taurine is often used in combination with bodybuilding supplements such as creatine and anabolic steroids, partly due to recent findings in mice that taurine alleviates muscle fatigue in strenuous workouts and raises exercise capacity. In recent years, taurine has become a common ingredient in energy drinks. Plasma taurine was 78% of control values, and urinary taurine 29%. Taurine levels were found to be significantly lower in vegans than in a control group on a standard American diet. Recent studies have also shown that taurine can influence (and possibly reverse) defects in nerve blood flow, motor nerve conduction velocity, and nerve sensory thresholds in experimental diabetic neuropathic rats. Currently taurine is being tested as an anti-manic treatment for bipolar depression. Studies have yet to be done on the effect of taurine on obesity in humans. Recent studies show that taurine supplements taken by mice on a high-fat diet prevented them from becoming overweight. There is also evidence that taurine in adult humans reduces blood pressure. Thus, taurine is a dietary essential nutrient in these individuals and is often added to many infant formulas as a measure of prudence. Prematurely born infants who lack the enzymes needed to convert cystathionine to cysteine may become deficient in taurine. Taurine has also been implicated in a wide array of other physiological phenomena including inhibitory neurotransmission, long-term potentiation in the striatum/ hippocampus, membrane stabilization, feedback inhibition of neutrophil/ macrophage respiratory bursts, adipose tissue regulation, and calcium homeostasis. The low pKa (1.5) of taurine's sulfonic acid group ensures that this moiety is negatively charged in the pH ranges normally found in the intestinal tract and thus improves the surfactant properties of the cholic acid conjugate. Taurine is conjugated via its amino terminal group with the bile acids chenodeoxycholic acid and cholic acid to form the bile salts sodium taurochenodeoxycholate and sodium taurocholate (see bile). Also, contrary to popular belief, taurine is not synthesized from bull urine. Small polypeptides have been identified which contain taurine but to date no aminoacyl tRNA synthetase has been identified as specifically recognizing taurine and capable of incorporating it onto a tRNA. It does contain a sulfonate group and may be called an amino sulfonic acid. It is often called an amino acid, even in scientific literature, but as it lacks a carboxyl group it is not strictly an amino acid. Taurine is named after the Latin taurus, which means bull, as it was first isolated from ox bile in 1827 by Austrian scientists Friedrich Tiedemann and Leopold Gmelin. Taurine is the only known naturally occurring sulfonic acid. Taurine is a derivative of the sulfur-containing ( sulfhydryl) amino acid, cysteine. Taurine, or 2-aminoethanesulfonic acid, is an organic acid that is a major constituent of bile, and can be found in lower amounts in the tissues of many animals including humans.
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