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Physiological and therapeutic effects of carnosine on cardiometabolic risk and disease

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Abstract

Obesity, type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) are the most common preventable causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. They represent major public health threat to our society. Increasing prevalence of obesity and T2DM contributes to escalating morbidity and mortality from CVD and stroke. Carnosine (β-alanyl-l-histidine) is a dipeptide with anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-glycation, anti-ischaemic and chelating roles and is available as an over-the-counter food supplement. Animal evidence suggests that carnosine may offer many promising therapeutic benefits for multiple chronic diseases due to these properties. Carnosine, traditionally used in exercise physiology to increase exercise performance, has potential preventative and therapeutic benefits in obesity, insulin resistance, T2DM and diabetic microvascular and macrovascular complications (CVD and stroke) as well as number of neurological and mental health conditions. However, relatively little evidence is available in humans. Thus, future studies should focus on well-designed clinical trials to confirm or refute a potential role of carnosine in the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases in humans, in addition to advancing knowledge from the basic science and animal studies.

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Abbreviations

AD:

Alzheimer’s disease

AGEs:

Advanced glycation end products

ALEs:

Advanced lipoxdiation end products

CDC:

Centre for Disease Control and Prevention

CLI:

Chronic low-grade inflammation

CN:

Carnosinase

CNDP:

Carnosine dipeptidase

CVD:

Cardiovascular disease

DNA:

Deoxyribonucleic acid

FFA:

Free fatty acids

GPX:

Glutathione peroxidase

HNE:

Hydroxynonenal

IDF:

International Diabetes Federation

JNK:

c-Jun N-terminal kinase

LDL:

Low density lipoprotein

MAPK:

Mitogen-activated protein kinase

MDA:

Malondialdehyde

MMP:

Matrix metalloproteinases

mTOR:

Mechanistic target of rapamycin

RCS:

Reactive carbonyl species

ROS:

Reactive oxygen species

SOD:

Superoxide dismutase

T2DM:

Type 2 diabetes mellitus

PD:

Parkinson’s disease

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Nigel Stepto for his valuable comments on the schematic diagram of the signalling pathways.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, 43-51 Kanooka Grove, Clayton, Melbourne, VIC, 3168, Australia

    Estifanos Baye & Barbora de Courten

  2. Department of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Wollo University, Dessie, Ethiopia

    Estifanos Baye

  3. Institute of Experimental Endocrinology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia

    Barbara Ukropcova & Jozef Ukropec

  4. Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia

    Barbara Ukropcova

  5. School of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, College of Medical and Dental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK

    Alan Hipkiss

  6. Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy

    Giancarlo Aldini

  7. Diabetes and Vascular Medicine Unit, Monash Health, Clayton, VIC, 3168, Australia

    Barbora de Courten

Authors
  1. Estifanos Baye
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  2. Barbara Ukropcova
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  3. Jozef Ukropec
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  4. Alan Hipkiss
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  5. Giancarlo Aldini
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  6. Barbora de Courten
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Barbora de Courten.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Funding sources

Estifanos Baye is a recipient of the Monash Graduate Scholarship. Barbora de Courten was supported by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council.

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Baye, E., Ukropcova, B., Ukropec, J. et al. Physiological and therapeutic effects of carnosine on cardiometabolic risk and disease. Amino Acids 48, 1131–1149 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00726-016-2208-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00726-016-2208-1

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