Further evidence in support of taurine as a mediator of synaptic transmission in the frog spinal cord

Abstract

It has been reported that 6-aminomethyl-3-methyl-4H,1,2,4-benzothiadiazine-1,1-dioxide (AMBD, TAG) is a specific blocker of taurine and β-alanine responses in the central nervous system. We have re-examined the effect of AMBD on amino acid and synaptically evoked responses recorded from isolated hemisected frog spinal cords by means of the sucrose gap technique. When indirect responses were blocked by adding tetrodotoxin (0.2 μM) or manganese chloride (2 mM) to the normal Ringer solution, AMBD (0.01–0.5 mM) selectively antagonized taurine, β-alanine, hypotaurine and kojic amine evoked depolarizations of primary afferents at their intramedullary part (dorsal root terminals, DRT) and on dorsal root ganglia (DRG), without significantly affecting responses to glutamate (on DRT), glycine (on DRT) or GABA (on DRT and DRG). Depolarizing responses to taurine and β-alanine (1 mM) were depressed by up to 50% with 0.1 mM AMBD and often completely antagonized with 0.25 mM AMBD. In normal Ringer solution, AMBD selectively antagonized the dorsal root potential evoked by ventral root stimulation (VR-DRP, threshold at 0.02 mM AMBD, 90% block with 0.25 mM); other synaptic potentials increased in duration and/or amplitude, demonstrating a strong convulsant effect of AMBD. Thus, the depolarizing responses of taurine, β-lanine and hypotaurine on primary afferents are pharmacologically indistinguishable from the VR-DRP. These results are in agreement with the proposal that taurine or a taurine-like substance (possibly β-alanine or hypotaurine) is the mediator of VR-DRP in amphibian spinal cord.