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Objective: To find out if pretreatment with taurine would reduce the severity of endotoxin-induced acute lung injury in a large animal model. Design: Randomised controlled study under licence from the Department of Health. Setting: Department of Surgical Research, Ireland. Animals: 15 male Suffolk sheep. Interventions: Vascular catheters were placed in the femoral artery and vein and a Swan-Ganz catheter in the external jugular vein under general anaesthetic. Animals were randomized into three groups: control with measurements taken at baseline and half hourly up to 90 minutes; endotoxin, given Escherichia coli endotoxin intravenously after baseline measurements and taurine given 300 mg/kg 1 hour before endotoxin was given. Main outcome measures: Mean systemic arterial pressure, mean pulmonary arterial pressure, arterial oxygen tension (pO[sub 2]), pulmonary myeloperoxidase activity, and neutrophil respiratory burst activity. Results: Endotoxin induced a severe lung injury characterised by a decrease in mean systemic blood pressure and an increase in pulmonary artery pressure, hypoxia, and an increase in pulmonary myeloperoxidase activity. Pretreatment with intravenous taurine significantly reduced these haemodynamic changes. It reduced pulmonary myeloperoxidase activity and peripheral neutropenia and increased neutrophil respiratory burst activity. Conclusions: This data suggest that taurine may have a therapeutic role in preventing the lung injury seen in endotoxaemia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]