Development of Biosynthesizing and Uptake Systems for Taurine in Cerebral Cortical Neurons in Primary Culture: Analysis of Possible Factors Involved in Perinatal Decline of Cerebral Taurine

It is well known that taurine (2-aminoethanesulfonic acid), one of most highly concentrated neuroactive amino acids in the mammalian CNS, exhibits a postnatal decline in the brain, which is different from the developmental elevation of the content of other neurotransmitters during the maturation of CNS (1,2,11,15). On the other hand, it has been reported that the activities of cysteine sulfinic acid decarboxylase (CSAD) and cysteine dioxygenase (CD), enzymes involved in taurine biosynthesis from cysteine, show an increase after birth (3,9,12).