Carnosine Studies Show:
Carnosine may be helpful in children with autism. The dose would be much less than in adults.
Topical N-Acetyl-carnosine eyedrops shows potential for the treatment and prevention of cataracts. A study with rabbits indicates that carnosine reduces the cardiac toxicity from the use of the chemotherapeutic drug doxorubicin. Another area of potential benefit for carnosine is diabetic nephropathy.

Carnosine Physiological role
First isolated in 1900, carnosine (beta-alanyl-L-hystidine) is a dipeptide commonly present in human and animal tissue, and in particular in skeletal muscle cells; it is responsible for a variety of activities related to the detoxification of the body from free radical species and the by-products of membrane lipids peroxidation. Carnosine also has membrane-protecting activity, proton buffering capacity, formation of complexes with transition metals, and regulation of macrophage function. It has been proposed that carnosine could act as a natural scavenger of dangerous reactive aldehydes from the degradative oxidative pathway of endogenous molecules such as sugars, polyunsaturated fatty acids and proteins. Carnosine is a potent and selective scavenger of alpha,beta-unsaturated aldehydes, typical by-products of membrane lipids peroxidation and considered second messengers of the oxidative stress, and inhibits aldehyde-induced protein-protein and DNA-protein cross-linking in neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, in cardiovascular ischemic damage, and in inflammatory diseases.

L Carnosine Research Update
Carnosine as a protective factor in diabetic nephropathy: association with a leucine repeat of the carnosinase gene CNDP1.
Diabetes. 2005 Aug;54(8):2320-7.
The risk of diabetic nephropathy is partially genetically determined. DNA polymorphisms were determined in 135 case (diabetic nephropathy) and 107 control (diabetes without nephropathy) subjects. The effect of carnosine on the production of extracellular matrix components and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) after exposure to 5 and 25 mmol/l d-glucose was studied in cultured human podocytes and mesangial cells, respectively. Carnosine inhibited the increased production of fibronectin and collagen type VI in podocytes and the increased production of TGF-beta in mesangial cells induced by 25 mmol/l glucose. Diabetic patients with the CNDP1 Mannheim variant are less susceptible for nephropathy. Carnosine protects against the adverse effects of high glucose levels on renal cells.

Glycation, ageing and carnosine: Are carnivorous diets beneficial?
Mech Ageing Dev. 2005 Oct;126(10):1034-9.

Tags: autism, Carnosine, cataracts, children, diabetic nephropathy