Insulin stimulates β-alanine uptake in skeletal muscle cells in vitro

Abstract

We evaluated whether insulin could stimulate β-alanine uptake by skeletal muscle cells in vitro. Mouse myoblasts (C2C12) (n = 3 wells per condition) were cultured with β-alanine (350 or 700 µmol·L−1), with insulin (100 µU·mL−1) either added to the media or not. Insulin stimulated the β-alanine uptake at the lower (350 µmol·L−1) but not higher (700 µmol·L−1) β-alanine concentration in culture medium, indicating that transporter saturation might blunt the stimulatory effects of insulin.

Physiological Roles of Carnosine in Myocardial Function and Health

“…The degree of their involvement in the cellular transportation of amino acids and peptides into the myocardium is unknown. β-alanine and taurine regulate the expression of the transporter TauT within skeletal muscle and decreased β-alanine uptake was shown in an immortalized mouse skeletal muscle cell line (C2C12) exposed to hypotaurine (a TauT inhibitor), suggesting that TauT may be the primary transporter of β-alanine in skeletal muscle ( 44 ). Due to the abundance of taurine in myocardial tissue ( 45 ), it can be postulated that β-alanine would also enter myocardial tissue via this transporter.…”