Taurine

Taurine occurs as one of the most abundant free amino acids in a wide variety of animal tissues; it is mostly absent from plants. In man and other mammals, the highest taurine concentrations are found in heart, retina, spleen and bone marrow. Blood cells such as platelets and leucocytes are also very rich in taurine. Traditionally taurine has been regarded as an end product of methionine metabolism. Other pathways for taurine biosynthesis exist but they have not been fully characterised and in mammals the cysteinsulfinate pathway seems to be the major pathway