Abstract #3807
Carnitine supplementation creates a cardiac reserve of free carnitine to enable buffering of excess acetyl units
Michael S Dodd 1 , Andrew J Lewis 1 , Vicky Ball 1 , and Damain J Tyler 1
1
Oxford Metabolic Imaging Group, University
of Oxford, Oxford, OXON, United Kingdom
Carnitine performs several vital roles in cellular
metabolism including facilitating the transport of fatty
acids into the mitochondria and buffering acetyl groups
from excess acetyl-CoA. Carnitine supplementation has
been proposed as a treatment for conditions such as
heart failure. In this study, short-term carnitine
supplementation in control animals did not alter the
metabolism of pyruvate under normal situations. However,
during a time of increased acetyl group availability,
caused by dichloroacetate infusion, there was evidence
of a carnitine reserve which was able to buffer excess
acetyl groups into acetylcarnitine, allowing recycling
of CoA back into β-oxidation or the TCA cycle.
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