Studies On The Anxiolytic Effect Of Taurine

The anxiolytic effect and the mechanism of taurine (TA) were preliminarily investigated by means of behavioral pharmacological methods for the first time.Acute taurine treatment (60 mg/kg, PO) or chronic taurine treatment (2.5 mg/kg, PO) can significantly increase the percentage of time spent on open arms in the elevated plus-maze test. In the light-dark transition test, TA (180 mg/kg) caused significant increases in the latency of transitions and the time spent in the light box. TA (126 mg/kg) significantly increased the number of entries into the central arena and the time spent in the central sector in the open field test, demonstrating the antithigmotactic effect. In the hole-board test and the social interaction test, TA (42 mg/kg) increased the number and duration of head-dips, the number of rearing, and prolonged the total interaction time in high light familiar and unfamiliar conditions. In the stress-induced hyperthermia test, TA (20～180 mg/kg) inhibited stress-induced hyperthermia. Thus, these results indicated that TA exhibits anxiolytic-like effects in animal models by increasing the exploratory and social behavior. However, the anxiolytic effect of taurine in the novel food consumption test and open-field drinking test was not remarkable suggesting that taurine was similarly not sensitive to the anxiety state related to the feeding and drinking.TA did not produce the influence on amobarbital sodium sleeping and had no interaction with ethanol in the elevated plus-maze test. TA did not change the motor activity at the doses of anxiolytic-effects, and even had no influences on the traction performance and the angle of inclined plane at the higher doses (400, 800...