Taurine in human auricular myocardium and blood platelets

Blood platelets have been used as a model for the aminergic neurones. In the hypertrophied left ventriles and platelets of spontaneously hypertensive rats the taurine content increases simultaneously. The main purpose of this work was to compare the taurine contents of human platelets and heart tissue. The taurine content was estimated from blood platelets and from the right atrial appendage removed during open heart surgery in 43 patients suffering from ischaemic heart disease. The results indicate that the taurine content increases in the hypertrophied right atrium of the patients with atrial septal defect, as it had previously been shown to increase in the hypertrophied left ventricle in patients who died of congestive heart failure. No correlations were found: 1) between the heart and platelet taurine contents of different groups, 2) between the atrial and platelet taurine in the pooled total results, 3) between the diastolic blood pressure and atrial or platelet taurine levels. Thus the increased taurine content of the auricular tissue is not reflected in the taurine content of the platelets.