Effects of β-alanine administration on selected parameters of oxidative stress and phosphoryltransfer network in cerebral cortex and cerebellum of rats

• Published in: Molecular and cellular biochemistry Vol. 380; no. 1-2; pp. 161 - 170
• Main Authors: Gemelli, Tanise, de Andrade, Rodrigo Binkowski, Rojas, Denise Bertin, Bonorino, Nariélle Ferner, Mazzola, Priscila Nicolao, Tortorelli, Lucas Silva, Funchal, Cláudia, Filho, Carlos Severo Dutra, Wannmacher, Clovis Milton Duval
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer US 01.08.2013; Springer
• Subjects: Adenylate kinase; Adenylate Kinase - metabolism; Amino acids; Animals; beta-Alanine - blood; beta-Alanine - cerebrospinal fluid; beta-Alanine - pharmacology; Biochemistry; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Brain; Cardiology; Catalase - metabolism; Cerebellum - drug effects; Cerebellum - metabolism; Cerebral Cortex - drug effects; Cerebral Cortex - metabolism; Creatine kinase; Creatine Kinase - metabolism; Enzymes; Fluoresceins - metabolism; Humans; Life Sciences; Male; Medical Biochemistry; Metabolism, Inborn Errors - blood; Nervous system diseases; Oncology; Oxidation-Reduction - drug effects; Oxidative stress; Oxidative Stress - drug effects; Phosphotransferases - metabolism; Physiological aspects; Pyruvate Kinase - metabolism; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Sulfhydryl Compounds - metabolism; Superoxide Dismutase - metabolism; Thiobarbituric Acid Reactive Substances - metabolism; Thiols; Cerebellum; Oxidative stress; Cerebral cortex; β-Alanine; β-Alaninemia; Enzymes of the phophoryltransfer network
• ISSN: 0300-8177; 1573-4919
• DOI: 10.1007/s11010-013-1669-8

β-Alanine is a β-amino acid derivative of the degradation of pyrimidine uracil and precursor of the oxidative substrate acetyl-coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA). The accumulation of β-alanine occurs in β-alaninemia, an inborn error of metabolism. Patients with β-alaninemia may develop neurological abnormalities whose mechanisms are far from being understood. In this study we evaluated the effects of β-alanine administration on some parameters of oxidative stress and on creatine kinase, pyruvate kinase, and adenylate kinase in cerebral cortex and cerebellum of 21-day-old rats. The animals received three peritoneal injections of β-alanine (0.3 mg /g of body weight) and the controls received the same volume (10 μL/g of body weight) of saline solution (NaCl 0.85 %) at 3 h intervals. CSF levels of β-alanine increased five times, achieving 80 μM in the rats receiving the amino acid. The results of β-alanine administration in the parameters of oxidative stress were similar in both tissues studied: reduction of superoxide dismutase activity, increased oxidation of 2′,7′-dihydrodichlorofluorescein, total content of sulfhydryl and catalase activity. However, the results of the phosphoryltransfer network enzymes were similar in all enzymes, but different in the tissues studied: the β-alanine administration was able to inhibit the enzyme pyruvate kinase, cytosolic creatine kinase, and adenylate kinase activities in cerebral cortex, and increase in cerebellum. In case this also occurs in the patients, these results suggest that oxidative stress and alteration of the phosphoryltransfer network may be involved in the pathophysiology of β-alaninemia. Moreover, the ingestion of β-alanine to improve muscular performance deserves more attention in respect to possible side-effects.