Description General description β-Alanine is a rate-limiting precursor of carnosine, a cytoplasmic dipeptide which is present in human skeletal muscles in high concentrations. Application Refer to the product′s Certificate of Analysis for more information on a suitable instrument technique. Contact Technical Service for further support. β-Alanine may be used as a reference standard for the determination of β-alanine in: • Potato tubers by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). • Human plasma, urine, and cerebrospinal fluid samples by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). • Striatal microdialysis samples by high performance liquid chromatography-fluorescence detection (HPLC-FLD) with ortho-phthalaldehyde-mercaptoethanol derivatization. • Fermented soybean paste, Cheonggukjang, by GC-MS operating in selected-ion monitoring (SIM) mode and principal component analysis (PCA). Biochem/physiol Actions β-Alanine, a β−amino acid, is a component of pantothenic acid and the rate-limiting amino acid in the biosynthesis of the histidinyl antioxidant dipeptides carnosine and anserine. Endogenous β-amino acid that is a nonselective agonist at glycine receptors and a ligand for the G protein-coupled orphan receptor, TGR7 (MrgD). β-Alanine flux plays a cytoprotective role by supporting the osmotic stability of marine organisms, preimplantation mouse embryos and mammalian cells exposed to hypoxic stress.