Taurine

Taurine, 2-aminoethanesulfonic acid, was originally discovered in ox (Bos taurus) bile and was named after taurus, or bull by German scientists Friedrich Tiedemann and Leopold Gmelin. Taurine is the most abundant free amino acid in animal tissue accounting for 3% of the free amino acid pool in plasma, 25% in liver, 50% in kidney, 53% in muscle, and 19% in the brain. In cats, it is an essential nutrient; kittens born to mothers fed taurine-deficient diets exhibit retinal degeneration. It also appears to promote the generation of rod photoreceptor cells from retinal progenitor cells via an effect on a glycine receptor. Taurine is found in human mother’s milk and may be conditionally essential for human infants and is routinely added to infant formulas.