Beneficial Effect of Taurine on Hypoxia- and Glutamate-induced Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress Pathways in Primary Neuronal Culture

Stroke (hypoxia) is one of the leading causes of mortality in the developed countries, and it can induce excessive glutamate release and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. Taurine, as a free amino acid, present in high concentrations in a range of organs in mammals, can provide protection against multiple neurological diseases. Here, we present a study to investigate the potential protective benefits of taurine against ER stress induced by glutamate and hypoxia/reoxygenation in primary cortical neuronal cultures. We found that taurine suppresses the up-regulation of caspase-12 and GADD153/CHOP induced by hypoxia/reoxygenation, suggesting that taurine may exert a protective function against hypoxia/reoxygenation by reducing the ER stress. Moreover, taurine can down-regulate the ratio of cleaved ATF6 and full length ATF6, and p-IRE1 expression, indicating that taurine inhibits the ER stress induced by hypoxia/reoxygenation and glutamate through suppressing ATF6 and IRE1 pathways.