Abstract
Rats exposed to ionizing radiation increase their urinary excretion of taurine. By using rats whose taurine pools are in isotopic equilibrium, it has been shown that the taurine excreted after irradiation originates from a pre-existing pool, whose specific radioactivity is equal or very close to that of the pools with a rapid turnover rate. This pool of taurine exists in animals deficient in pyridoxal phosphate. When endogenous taurine biosynthesis is sufficiently lowered by pyridoxal phosphate deficiency, the excess urinary excretion following irradiation is either abolished or greatly reduced. This reduction is attributed to the preferential utilization of taurine by extra renal tissues in such pyridoxine deficient animals. The competition between kidney reabsorption of other reactions extracting taurine from the plasma is the reason for the peculiar behaviour of such deficient rats.
Published Version
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