Phenotype of the taurine transporter knockout mouse

This chapter reports present knowledge on the properties of mice with disrupted gene coding for the taurine transporter (taut-/- mice). Study of those mice unraveled some of the roles of taurine and its membrane transport for the development and maintenance of normal organ functions and morphology. When compared with wild-type controls, taut-/- mice have decreased taurine levels in skeletal and heart muscle by about 98%, in brain, kidney, plasma, and retina by 80 to 90%, and in liver by about 70%. taut-/- mice exhibit a lower body mass as well as a strongly reduced exercise capacity compared with taut+/- and wild-type mice. Furthermore, taut-/- mice show a variety of pathological features, for example, subtle derangement of renal osmoregulation, changes in neuroreceptor expression, and loss of long-term potentiation in the striatum, and they develop clinically relevant age-dependent disorders, for example, visual, auditory, and olfactory dysfunctions, unspecific hepatitis, and liver fibrosis.