Taurine administration ablates sepsis induced diaphragm weakness

•Diaphragm weakness is a major clinical problem in critically ill mechanically ventilated patients.•Sepsis is a major risk factor for the development of diaphragm weakness.•Taurine administration improves sepsis-induced diaphragm dysfunction.•Taurine treatment may improve diaphragm strength and reduce duration of mechanical ventilation in critically ill patients. Infection induced diaphragm weakness is a major contributor to death and prolonged mechanical ventilation in critically ill patients. Infection induced muscle dysfunction is associated with activation of muscle proteolytic enzymes, and taurine is known to suppress proteolysis. We therefore postulated that taurine administration may prevent infection induced diaphragm dysfunction. The purpose of this study was to test this hypothesis using a clinically relevant animal model of infection, i.e. cecal ligation puncture induced sepsis (CLP). Studies were performed on (n = 5–7 mice/group): (a) sham operated controls, (b) animals with sepsis induced by CLP, (c) sham operated animals given taurine (75 mg/kg/d, intraperitoneally), and (d) CLP animals given taurine. At intervals after surgery animals were euthanized, diaphragm force generation measured in vitro, and diaphragm calpain, caspase and proteasomal activity determined. CLP elicited a large reduction in diaphragm specific force generation at 24 h (1–150 Hz, p