Taurine In Intensive Care Unit Practice

Abstract

Taurine is an amino sulfonic acid that is sometimes referred to as a sulfur containing beta-amino acid due to its structure, although technically not an amino acid due to structural issues. In general, taurine is present in excitable tissues more than others although as its transporter is expressed ubiquitously it could be assumed taurine is omnipresent in the human body. Taurine does not appear to undergo any changes in the environment of the stomach. In the intestines, pancreatin can reduce levels of detectable food-bound taurine by almost 40% . However, Taurine was not broken into metabolites but somehow became 'inaccessible', which may be due to the taurine being from meat. When on adequate nutritional support, amino acid levels raised, independent of severity of disease. However, plasma taurine levels declined. Low taurine levels were associated with a longer period of mechanical ventilation and a longer stay at the ICU.