ON THE ELIMINATION OF TAURIN ADMINISTERED 
TO MAN.* 
By CARL L. A. SCHMIDT, EDWARD VON ADELUNG, anv 
THOMAS WATSON. 
(From the Hearst Laboratory of Pathology and Bacteriology and thé Depart- 
ment of Biochemistry of the University of California, Berkeley.) 
(Received for publication, January 22, 1918.) 
Apparently the only experiments concerned with the elimination 
of taurin administered to man were carried out by Salkowski.! 
He found that taurin taken by mouth was eliminated to the ex- 
tent of about 87 per cent in the urine, but none of the sulfur 
appeared in the oxidized form. In fact, the greater portion of 
the taurin was eliminated as taurocarbamic acid. Symptoms 
of diarrhea followed the ingestion of 5 gm. doses of taurin. Taurin 
was found. by Salkowski to be toxic for rabbits when given by 
mouth. 
In connection with other experiments being carried out in this 
laboratory it was desirable to study further the elimination of 
taurin when administered in various ways to man. For this 
purpose subjects were placed on simple constant diets and sulfur 
determinations made in periods preceding and following the ad- 
ministration of taurin. Ringer’s solution containing about 6 
per cent of taurin was used for the injections. The results ob- 
tained are summarized in the tables which follow. 
A perusal of the tables shows that the increase of urinary 
sulfur following the administration of taurin occurs almost en- 
tirely in the neutral sulfur fraction, although there is a slight but 
unmistakable rise in inorganic sulfur following the administration 
* Work aided by a grant to the Medical Research Committee from the 
State Council of Defense, and the George Williams Hooper Foundation 
for Medical Research. 
1 Salkowski, E., Virchows Arch. path. Anat., 1873, lviii, 460; Ber. chem. 
Ges., 1872, v, 637. | 
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