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R Huxtable

Publications and source records attributed to R Huxtable.

31 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1975

Excitability modulation by taurine. Transmembrane measurements of neuromuscular transmission.

The presence of taurine, a non-essential amino acid, in nerve and muscle has been previously associated with inhibition of activity in the central nervous system, with the etiology of epileptogenic foci, and with the muscle weakness of muscular dystrophy. We present here data showing a small and probably insignificant effect of taurine on neuromuscular transmission per se, but significant hyperpolarization of the membrane potential in both taurine-incubated and taurine-loaded muscles. In addition, we found that taurine reduces the time course of the muscle action potential. The results are interpreted in terms of neuromuscular transmission and excitation-contraction coupling consequent to these phenomena. This interpretation is compatable with the hypothesis that taurine is involved in the genesis of muscular dystrophy where the membrane potential is depolarized. Our results and interpretation can also explain the anti-arrhythmic action of taurine on cardiac muscle.

Action Potentials↗
PubMed1974

Taurine concentrations in congestive heart failure.

The concentration of taurine in the left ventricular muscle of hearts of patients who died of chronic congestive heart failure was twice that of patients who died of other causes and had no cardiac pathology. There was no corresponding difference in taurine concentrations in aortic tissue between the two groups. Stress-induced hypertension in rats also led to an increase in taurine concentration in the heart, whereas that in skeletal muscle and brain showed no significant alteration when compared to unstressed animals. Spontaneously hypertensive rats, of the Wistar-derived Okamato strain, showed a similar elevation in cardiac taurine compared to age-matched control Wistar rats.

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