Effect of Dietary Sulfur on Taurine Excretion by the Rat

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Abstract
Previous investigations in this laboratory have suggested that the obligatory oxidation of amino acid sulfur to endogenous sulfate by the rat is an inefficient process which results in the increased excretion of other sulfur-containing metabolites. Therefore, the effect of in vivo sulfate restriction on the urinary excretion of taurine was investigated. Dietary sulfate restriction increased the amount of 35S-cysteine excreted as 35S-taurine. For example, rats fed diets containing 0.0002% of inorganic sulfate and 35S-cysteine excreted approximately twice as much 35S-taurine as those fed diets containing 0.1% of inorganic sulfate and 35S-cysteine. These data show that dietary sulfate restriction results in an increased taurine synthesis. Since this increase in endogenous taurine is apparently wasted, these data afford an explanation for previously observed inefficiencies in the oxidation of amino acid sulfur to sulfate by the rat.

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