ABSTRACT. We studied the effect of 8-wk dietary taurine depletion on the vulnerability to hypernatremic dehydration in postweanling kittens. While experimental taurine depletion was not associated with increased susceptibility to acute hypernatremia (1.5 M NaCl/NaHC03 35 ml/kg body weight, single injection), there was an increase in Recent evidence suggests that in many animal species taurine, a p-aminosulfonic acid formed in the metabolism of methionine and cysteine or present in the diet, acts as an osmoprotective molecule under stressful conditions (I). Hypernatremic dehydration is a formidable problem in clinical pediatrics. Rapid onset of hypernatremia and hasty rehydration are associated with the occurrence of cerebral shrinkage or swelling, respectively, caused by two distinct phenomena (2). The first is the slow diffusion of solute through the "blood brain bamer" so that an osmolal gradient will be initially relieved by the movement of water alone causing a volume change in the brain. The cerebral volume change is gradually attenuated by a second process that is oper-

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