title: Carnitine improves peripheral glucose disposal in non-insulin-dependent diabetic patients.
abstract: To investigate the effects of carnitine on insulin sensitivity in non-insulin-dependent diabetes, insulin-mediated glucose disposal was measured in nine diabetic patients (age 54 +/- 3 years, BMI 27 +/- 1 kg/mq) during a primed (3 mmol) constant (1.7 mumol/min) intravenous infusion of carnitine. In control experiments, the same patients received saline instead of carnitine. Plasma glucose concentration was maintained constant at the level of 100 mg/dl during both studies while plasma insulin was raised to a plateau of 60 microU/ml. Despite similar insulin levels, whole-body glucose utilization was higher with carnitine (4.05 +/- 0.37 mg/kg/min) than saline infusion (3.52 +/- 0.36). Blood lactate concentrations were similar in the basal state and decreased significantly during carnitine infusion (P less than 0.05-0.005), whereas it remained substantially unchanged during saline infusion. Plasma FFA decreased to a similar level (0.1 mmol/l) in both studies. We conclude that an acute carnitine administration is able to improve insulin sensitivity in NIDDM patients. The lactate data suggest that this effect may at least in part be mediated by carnitine activation of pyruvate dehydrogenase.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, 2nd Medical School, Federico II University, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Capaldo
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Napoli
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Di Bonito
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Albano
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Saccà
mesh_terms: D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000378:metabolism*; D002331:Carnitine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000097:blood*; D005230:Fatty Acids, Nonesterified / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007700:Kinetics; D007773:Lactates / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012016:Reference Values; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D005230:Fatty Acids, Nonesterified; D007773:Lactates; D005947:Glucose; D002331:Carnitine