Description

• General description: β-Alanine is a rate-limiting precursor of carnosine, a cytoplasmic dipeptide which is present in human skeletal muscles in high concentrations.[1][2]
• Application: β-Alanine may be used as a reference standard for the determination of β-alanine in: Potato tubers by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS).[3]Human plasma, urine, and cerebrospinal fluid samples by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS).[4] Striatal microdialysis samples by high performance liquid chromatography-fluorescence detection (HPLC-FLD) with ortho-phthalaldehyde-mercaptoethanol derivatization.[5] Fermented soybean paste, Cheonggukjang, by GC-MS operating in selected-ion monitoring (SIM) mode and principal component analysis (PCA).[6]
• Biochem/physiol Actions: β-Alanine, a β−amino acid, is a component of pantothenic acid and the rate-limiting amino acid in the biosynthesis of the histidinyl antioxidant dipeptides carnosine and anserine. Endogenous β-amino acid that is a nonselective agonist at glycine receptors and a ligand for the G protein-coupled orphan receptor, TGR7 (MrgD). β-Alanine flux plays a cytoprotective role by supporting the osmotic stability of marine organisms, preimplantation mouse embryos and mammalian cells exposed to hypoxic stress.