Calcium chelators enhance the efflux of taurine from brain slices

Efflux of exogenous [3H]taurine from superfused slices of cerebral cortex of rat was enhanced by the calcium chelators EDTA and EGTA and by large concentrations of unlabelled taurine and histidine. The enhancement by EDTA and EGTA could be totally blocked by excess calcium, but that by the amino acids only partially. The enhancement of spontaneous taurine release in the absence of calcium complicates the assessment of the calcium dependence of evoked taurine release.