Muscle histidine-containing dipeptides are elevated by glucose intolerance in both rodents and men

Objective : Muscle carnosine and its methylated form anserine are histidine-containing dipeptides. Both dipeptides have the ability to quench reactive carbonyl species and previous studies have shown that endogenous tissue levels are decreased in chronic diseases, such as diabetes. Design and Methods : Rodent study: Skeletal muscles of rats and mice were collected from 4 different diet-intervention studies, aiming to induce various degrees of glucose intolerance: 45% high-fat feeding (male rats), 60% high-fat feeding (male rats), cafeteria feeding (male rats), 70% high-fat feeding (female mice). Body weight, glucose-tolerance and muscle histidine-containing dipeptides were assessed. Human study: Muscle biopsies were taken from m. vastus lateralis in 35 males (9 lean, 8 obese, 9 prediabetic and 9 newly diagnosed type 2 diabetic patients) and muscle carnosine and gene expression of muscle fiber type markers were measured. Results : Diet interventions in rodents (cafeteria and 70% high-fat feeding) induced increases in body weight, glucose intolerance and levels of histidine-containing dipeptides in muscle. In humans, obese, prediabetic and diabetic men had increased muscle carnosine content compared to the lean (+21% (p>0.1), +30% (p