Doctoral Dissertations
Date of Award
12-1987
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Major
Human Ecology
Major Professor
Dileep S. Sachan
Committee Members
John W. Koontz, Roy E. Beauchene, Jack W. Oliver, Hugo Eiler
Abstract
These studies were carried out to define the effects of L-carnitine on ethanol metabolism in Spraque-Dawley rats. In the first phase, it was established that 0.5% (w/w) L-carnitine supplementation for 3 days was optimum to attain blood-carnitine steady state concentrations. The urinary-carnitine profile was similar to that of blood-carnitine and the urinary-steady state concentrations of carnitine were attained after 5 days of supplementation which suggests that urinary-carnitines may be reasonable predictors of blood-carnitine steady state concentrations. The carnitine concentration of skeletal muscle was not affected by different levels of carnitine supplementation. It is concluded that 3 days of carnitine supplementation was adequate to attain blood-steady state concentrations of carnitine.
L-carnitine, like D,L-carnitine, attenuated ethanol metabolism. The effect of carnitine was not on the absorption of ethanol but on its metabolism, since portal blood-ethanol concentrations did not change significantly during the period when systemic blood-ethanol concentrations were significantly elevated. The effect of carnitine was quite specific because it could not be produced by choline.
Administration of carnitine via i.p. and i.v. routes for 3 days prior to ethanol administration retarded ethanol metabolism similarly to that seen following the oral administration of carnitine. These results further strengthen the argument that carnitine affects ethanol metabolism and not its absorption from the G.I. tract. Since the simultaneous administration of carnitine with ethanol did not attenuate ethanol metabolism, it is proposed that carnitine may modulate cell structure or enzyme systems perhaps in some type of inductive manner.
The effect of carnitine on ethanol metabolism was influenced by the sex of the animal, since female rats were not affected to the same extent as were the male rats. This difference may be attributed to differences in hormonal activity, metabolic rates, volume of distribution, and adiposity of males and females.
Thus it is concluded that carnitine administration via any route prior to ethanol dosage retards ethanol metabolism in male rats significantly more so than in female rats.
Recommended Citation
Berger, Robert, "Effects of L-carnitine on ethanol metabolism. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 1987.
https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/12018