Fig. 2

Taurine plays many and different physiological roles in various tissues. Some taurine actions, as the inhibitory effect at CNS, seem to be mediated by a receptor mechanism, while the effects on other tissues and systems occur via less defined mechanisms of action. Accordingly, the figure also briefly summarizes the main taurine effects ranging from control of calcium handling mechanism and excitation–contraction coupling in the heart, the ability to control immune reaction and inflammation, via inhibition of NF-kB as well as the main role of taurine in conjugating bile salts. Virtually all tissues are sensitive to taurine action with described effect of taurine on visual function (not shown), fertility, insulin release etc. The reported scheme is not supposed to be exhaustive of all taurine effects and only serves as general overview.