Carnitine

(in 706 products)

1. Drug / Medicine - Treats, alleviates, cures, or prevents sickness. As officially declared by a governmental drug/medicine regulatory body

Levocarnitine is a carrier molecule in the transport of long chain fatty acids across the inner mitochondrial membrane. It also exports acyl groups from subcellular organelles and from cells to urine before they accumulate to toxic concentrations. Lack of carnitine can lead to liver, heart, and muscle problems. Carnitine deficiency is defined biochemically as abnormally low plasma concentrations of free carnitine , less than 20 µmol/L at one week post term and may be associated with low tissue and/or urine concentrations. Further, this condition may be associated with a plasma concentration ratio of acylcarnitine/ levocarnitine greater than 0.4 or abnormally elevated concentrations of acylcarnitine in the urine. Only the L isomer of carnitine (sometimes called vitamin BT ) affects lipid metabolism. The " vitamin BT " form actually contains D,L-carnitine , which competitively inhibits levocarnitine and can cause deficiency. Levocarnitine can be used therapeutically to stimulate gastric and pancreatic secretions and in the treatment of hyperlipoproteinemias. Levocarnitine is an amino acid derivative. Levocarnitine facilitates long-chain fatty acid entry into mitochondria, delivering substrate for oxidation and subsequent energy production. Fatty acids are utilized as an energy substrate in all tissues except the brain. (NCI04)

1. PubChem: https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/10917