Taurine has important physiological roles as well as a wide range of pharmacological effects. Studies have suggested that taurine ameliorates diabetes, hypertension, oxidative stress, and inflammatory diseases. However, its mechanisms of action are still unclear. It has been reported that N-acyl taurine activates transient receptor potential vanilloid-1 (TRPV1), which is related to the pathogenesis of many inflammatory diseases. In this study, we hypothesized that taurine has a regulatory effect on TRPV1 activation via N-acyl taurine. To evaluate this hypothesis, we assessed the calcium influx activated by a TRPV1 agonist in human keratinocyte (HaCaT) cells and paraquat-induced oxidative stress in Caenorhabditis elegans. Our results indicate that taurine inhibits TRPV-dependent activity to overcome oxidative stress in cultured cell lines and in C. elegans.
Keywords: Caenorhabditis elegans; oxidative stress; taurine; transient receptor potential vanilloid (TRPV).