Evidence map›Paper›PMID 23170060›Full record

ReviewMolecular vision2012

Review: taurine: a "very essential" amino acid.

Harris Ripps, Wen Shen

Open access · greenAbstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Molecular vision, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 296 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
296citing papers in PubMed, 4 pooled it
10.0field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

296 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 592 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  9. Dietary taurine supplementation enhances growth performance of Japanese seabass (Animal nutrition (Zhongguo xu mu shou yi xue hui) · 2026
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236 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Harris RippsDepartments of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Anatomy and Cell Biology, Physiology and Biophysics, University of Illinois College of Medicine, Chicago, IL 60612, USA. harrripp@uic.edu
Wen Shen
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign · US

Funding

Interplexiform Cell FunctionR01EY014161 · NEI · STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT BUFFALO · PI SHEN, WEN · 2002 to 2005
$1.1M
NEI NIH HHS EY14161NEI NIH HHS R01 EY014161
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Taurine is an organic osmolyte involved in cell volume regulation, and provides a substrate for the formation of bile salts. It plays a role in the modulation of intracellular free calcium concentration, and although it is one of the few amino acids not incorporated into proteins, taurine is one of the most abundant amino acids in the brain, retina, muscle tissue, and organs throughout the body. Taurine serves a wide variety of functions in the central nervous system, from development to cytoprotection, and taurine deficiency is associated with cardiomyopathy, renal dysfunction, developmental abnormalities, and severe damage to retinal neurons. All ocular tissues contain taurine, and quantitative analysis of ocular tissue extracts of the rat eye revealed that taurine was the most abundant amino acid in the retina, vitreous, lens, cornea, iris, and ciliary body. In the retina, taurine is critical for photoreceptor development and acts as a cytoprotectant against stress-related neuronal damage and other pathological conditions. Despite its many functional properties, however, the cellular and biochemical mechanisms mediating the actions of taurine are not fully known. Nevertheless, considering its broad distribution, its many cytoprotective attributes, and its functional significance in cell development, nutrition, and survival, taurine is undoubtedly one of the most essential substances in the body. Interestingly, taurine satisfies many of the criteria considered essential for inclusion in the inventory of neurotransmitters, but evidence of a taurine-specific receptor has yet to be identified in the vertebrate nervous system. In this report, we present a broad overview of the functional properties of taurine, some of the consequences of taurine deficiency, and the results of studies in animal models suggesting that taurine may play a therapeutic role in the management of epilepsy and diabetes.

Indexed as

CytoprotectionAmino Acids, EssentialAnimalsBrainCiliary BodyCorneaDiabetes MellitusEpilepsyHumansIrisLens, CrystallineNeuronsRetinaTaurineAmino Acids, EssentialTaurine

Identifiers

PMID23170060
PMCPMC3501277
OpenAlexW1538917871

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.