The Effects of Taurine and Biogenetically Related Sulfur-Containing Compounds on the Metabolism of and Hypothermia by Ethanol in the Rat

Two main metabolic pathways have been described for the biosynthesis of taurine in mammals: the cysteine sulfinic acid pathway, entailing the formation of cysteine sulfinic acid from cysteine, followed by conversion of cysteine sulfinic acid to hypotaurine; and the cysteamine pathway, where cysteine is sequentially metabolized to phosphopantothenyl cysteine, cysteamine and hypotaurine7,19. In turn, hypotaurine is enzymatically oxidized to taurine which, ultimately, is reported to undergo a very limited conversion to isethionic acid in certain organs3,20. An alternate minor pathway to taurine may occur through the intermediate formation of cysteic acid from cysteine sulfinic acid3,13,23.