title: Effect of dietary lysine level and protein restriction on the lipids and carnitine levels in the liver of pregnant rats.
abstract: Carnitine, biosynthesized from the essential amino acid lysine, has been considered as the shuttling of long-chain fatty acid acyl residues into the matrix of mitochondria for beta-oxidation. This lysine-carnitine relation was studied in pregnant rats nourished with diets differing in lysine and protein content. Pregnancy seems to be a factor contributing to the increase of the free carnitine fraction and phospholipids in the liver, whatever the diet allowed. In the case of nonpregnant rats, free carnitine levels decrease and triglycerides increase in the liver when they are nourished with a low-protein and lysine-deficient diet.
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherches sur la Nutrition du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Meudon-Bellevue, France.
authors.forename: M F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Fernández Ortega
mesh_terms: D000108:Acetylcarnitine / Q000032:analysis; D000818:Animals; D002331:Carnitine / Q000378:metabolism*; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000378:metabolism; D004032:Diet; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D007202:Indicators and Reagents; D050356:Lipid Metabolism; D008099:Liver / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D008239:Lysine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010743:Phospholipids / Q000378:metabolism; D011247:Pregnancy; D011270:Pregnancy, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D011488:Protein Deficiency / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D005227:Fatty Acids; D007202:Indicators and Reagents; D010743:Phospholipids; D014280:Triglycerides; D000108:Acetylcarnitine; D002784:Cholesterol; D008239:Lysine; D002331:Carnitine