A Curative Effect of Carnosine (β-alanyl-1-histidine) on the Decubital Ulcer

Abstract

An effective dose of 1-carnosine (β-alanyl-1-histidine) for the restoration of inflammatory tissues (by formalin filter method) is known to be 8.8 μmol/100g rat ip. In the present paper, an application of this potent effect to the decubital ulcer is discussed. By spraying minute powder of 1 to 3g carnosine on an ulcerous wound, the necrotic layer is made to fall off and, through the formation of new granulations, the wound will become gradually cicatrized from the periphery.
Carnosine, when used in the form of spray in an amount of 1 to 3g daily, proved quite beneficial to 5 patients of the decubital ulcers of varying degree. When a case is light enough without any necrotic layer, the formation of fresh granulations took place in about 2 weeks, reaching a complete cure. The physiologic significance of carnosine in the repair of inflamed tissues is now being explicated. That carnosine corresponding to 1/35 of what is usually contained in a vital body is sufficient to repair inflamed tissues, appears to indicate that carnosine is an important chemical mediator playing a major role in this healing process.
Our biochemical knowledge of carnosine alone will not solve the granular promotive mechanism on the part of carnosine and much future research is indicated in this direction.
At the present state of our knowledge, it may be concluded that, along with cortisone, carnosine is significant in that it is a co-factor in the vital defense mechanism.