Levels of free amino acids in serum and cerebrospinal fluid after administration of taurine to epileptic and normal subjects.

The modifications associated with taurine treatment of the free amino acid content of serum and cerebrospinal fluid were investigated in epileptic and control subjects. In patients with epilepsy the main findings were, in the serum, the correction toward normal of the amino acid levels that were low prior to therapy, and in the cerebrospinal fluid, the increase up to above-normal levels of glutamic acid, greatly diminished before treatment. Thus taurine, which has an anticonvulsant action appears to partially correct the amino acid imbalance in epileptics. The monitoring of taurine-induced glutamate changes in the cerebrospinal fluid could help to establish the correct therapeutic dose.