Carnosine ELISA Kit

Carnosine is an imidazole dipeptide composed of the amino acids beta-alanine and histidine. Humans cannot produce carnosine and it must be obtained from meats such as beef, pork and chicken. Unlike simple amino acids, carnosine is not incorporated into proteins and is stored at relatively high concentrations (e.g. > 1 mg/ml) in brain, heart and muscle tissues. In humans, carnosine concentrations in plasma are very low during fasting but can jump to high levels after meat consumption. Interestingly, carnosine has several beneficial effects or therapeutic potential, like carnosine has a pKa of 6.8 which is ideal to buffer pH and delay fatigue in muscle. In addition, carnosine is an antioxidant which can greatly scavenge reactive oxygen species (ROS) or alpha-beta unsaturated aldehydes formed during oxidative stresses or inflammations. Besides, carnosine has antiglycating properties and it can reduce advanced glycation end-products in many degenerative diseases such as aging, atherosclerosis, chronic renal failure and Alzheimer's disease. Carnosine is also important in diabetes as it can bind to excess sugars and lessen glucose-induced damage. The traditional techniques/instruments (HPLC or GC-MS) for detecting carnosine are expensive, laborious, and time-consuming. On the other hand, immunoassay techniques, such as ELISA, are commonly preferred as simple, reliable and rapid methods. BioVision’s Carnosine ELISA kit is a competitive-based ELISA that can detect carnosine in different biological samples such as serum and muscle. It can detect carnosine (0.25 – 16 μg/ml) within 120 minutes.