Effects of taurine deficiency on immune function in mice.

Abstract

The role of the sulfur-containing amino acid, taurine, in immune function has received scant attention until recently. In the past few years reports have described its adjuvant effect for viral antigens in mice and human subjects (Kuriyama et al., 1988; Ishizaka et al., 1990), its reversal of age-related immune decline in mice (Nishio et al., 1990) and a decline in polymorphonuclear cell function in severely taurine-deficient cats (Schuller-Levis et al., 1990).