The potential significance of carnosine lies on one hand in its possible influence on specific physiological changes in muscle associated with the aging process, and on the other in its effect on oxidative stress and the antioxidative system in specific neuromuscular diseases such as ALS or polymyositis.
Skeletal muscles undergo specific alterations that are related to the aging process.
The incidence of several neuromuscular diseases is age-related. Myasthenia gravis has two age-related peaks of incidence. Women are affected more often than men in the second and third decade, which reflects the generally higher autoimmune reactivity of young women. Drug-induced myopathies are more common in older patients because medications with myotoxic effects are more often prescribed for older patients. A decline in creatine clearance with increasing age explains this increasing toxicity.