A hydrophilic essential amino acid that has a basic sidechain containing an imidazole group. Is biosynthesized from ATP, 5-phosphoribosyl-1-pyrophosphate (PRPP), and glutamine. This essential amino acid can be degraded to glutamate by histidiase, urocanase and imidazolonepropionase; it is also the precursor of histamine by action of histidine decarboxylase. Used in cell culture media formulations used in biomanufacturing. Used to study cultures of the human T-lymphoblastic leukemia cell line MOLT-4 to study modulation of apoptosis.
