Incorporation of ¹⁴C-Histidine into Carnosine in the Eel, Anguilla japonica

Abstract

In order to determine whether the eel, Angnilla japonica, which accumulates a large amount of carnosine in its muscle, can biosynthesize this compound or not, the incorporation of ¹⁴C-histidine into carnosine was studied.
Twenty-four hours after the injection of ¹⁴C-histidine into the muscle of eel, picric acid extracts were prepared from the muscle, liver, kidney, other viscera, and blood, and carnosine was separated from each extract by ion exchange chromatography.
Only carnosine from the muscle was found to be radioactive. Paper and thin-layer chromato-graphic examination of the hydrolysate of camosine from the muscle revealed that the radioactivity could be exclusively attributed to the histidine residue.
These results clearly indicate that the eel is capable of synthesizing carnosine in vivo.