J. Lipid Res. Please sign the JLR Guestbook
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

A more recent version of this article appeared on April 1, 2004

Papers In Press, published online ahead of print January 1, 2004
J. Lipid Res., doi:10.1194/jlr.M300425-JLR200
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (Accepted Manuscript)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
M300425-JLR200v1
45/4/729    most recent
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Tanaka, Y.
Right arrow Articles by Ando, S.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Tanaka, Y.
Right arrow Articles by Ando, S.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati  
What's this?

Submitted on October 8, 2003
Revised on December 24, 2003
Accepted on December 30, 2003

Acetyl-L-carnitine supplementation restores decreased tissue carnitine levels and impaired lipid metabolisms in aged rats

Yasukazu Tanaka, Rorie Sasaki, Fumiko Fukui, Hatsue Waki, Terue Kawabata, Mitsuyo Okazaki, Kyoko Hasegawa, and Susumu Ando

Neuronal Function Research Group, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology, Tokyo, Tokyo 173-0015

Corresponding Author: yasu{at}center.tmig.or.jp

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of long-term carnitine supplementation on age-related changes in tissue carnitine levels and in lipid metabolism. The total carnitine levels in heart, skeletal muscle, cerebral cortex and hippocampus were about 20 % less in aged rats than in young rats. On the contrary, serum carnitine levels were not affected by aging. Young and aged rats were given acetyl-L-carnitine (ALCAR, 100 mg/kg BW/day) for 3 months and sacrificed at ages of 6 and 22 months. This treatment significantly increased the tissue carnitine levels in aged rats, but had little effect on the tissue carnitine levels in young rats. Serum triacylglycerol, cholesterol and phospholipid levels were higher in aged rats than in young rats. Lipoprotein analyses revealed that triacylglycerol levels in very low density lipoprotein (VLDL), and cholesterol levels in low density lipoprotein (LDL) and in high density lipoprotein (HDL) were all significantly higher in aged rats than in young rats. Supplementation of ALCAR decreased all lipoprotein fractions and consequently the levels of triacylglycerol and cholesterol. The reduction in serum cholesterol contents in aged rats when treated with ALCAR was mainly due to a decrease of cholesteryl esters than to a decrease of free cholesterol. Another remarkable effect of ALCAR was that it decreased the cholesterol content and cholesterol/phospholipid ratio in the brain tissues of aged rats. These results indicate that chronic ALCAR supplementation reverses the age-associated changes in lipid metabolism.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?




HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH
 All ASBMB Journals   Journal of Biological Chemistry 
 Molecular and Cellular Proteomics   ASBMB Today 
Copyright © 2004 by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.