Long-term effects of preweaning taurine injections in rats: interactions with strain and gender

A comparison was made of MR, MNR, and RCA strains that had been injected with either 62.5 mg/kg of taurine or comparable volumes of physiological saline between postnatal Days 8 and 20 and later tested at 100 days of age in an open field and 1-way shock avoidance situations. Taurine-injected rats displayed significant elevation in defecation score in the open field. In addition a significant Treatment X Strain interaction was due to the larger defecation numbers displayed by the taurine-injected MR rats relative to the saline-injected MR rats.