The roles of carnosine in aging of skeletal muscle and in neuromuscular diseases

Skeletal muscles undergo specific alterations that are related to the aging process, The incidence of several neuromuscular diseases (e.g., amyotrophi c lateral sclerosis (ALS), myasthenia gravis, polymyositis, drug-induced my opathies, late-onset mitochondrial myopathy) is age-related. The increased sensitivity to disease of aging muscle represents an additional age-related negative influence in the presence of existing risk factors (such as a gen etic predisposition). The potential significance of carnosine lies on one h and in its possible influence on specific physiological changes in muscle a ssociated with the aging process, and on the other in its effect on oxidati ve stress and the antioxidative system in specific neuromuscular diseases s uch as ALS or polymyositis.