title: Early events of the exogenously provided L-Carnitine in murine macrophages, T- and B-lymphocytes: modulation of prostaglandin E1 and E2 production in response to arachidonic acid.
abstract: L-carnitine is an essential energy-providing compound to the cell since it transports long chain fatty acids through the mitochondrial membrane and delivers them to the beta-oxidation pathway for catabolism and/or entrance to biosynthetic pathways. Some of the early events taking place in immune cells after L-carnitine inoculation in vitro are defined in this report. Using arachidonic acid as a fatty acid source, we determined the utilization rate of L-carnitine by murine T-, B-lymphocytes and macrophages within two hours of cell culture, its effect on prostaglandin E1 and E2 production and the levels of beta-hydroxy-butyrate. The results show that although all immune cells consume a small portion of L-carnitine, beta-hydroxy-butyrate decreases upon addition of arachidonic acid and/or L-carnitine indicating that active biosynthetic pathways are induced. L-carnitine is shown to increase the arachidonic acid-induced production of prostaglandins E1 and E2 in macrophages, while their secretion from T- and B-lymphocytes is decreased. These findings indicate the L-carnitine may very rapidly alter the activation state of immune cells and lead to the development of various reactions, beneficial or not to the organism.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Crete, Heraklion, Crete, Greece. athan@biology.uoc.gr
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Athanassakis
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dionyssopoulou
authors.forename: Sunny
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Papanikou
authors.forename: Athanassios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Evangeliou
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vassiliadis
mesh_terms: D020155:3-Hydroxybutyric Acid / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D000527:Alprostadil / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D000818:Animals; D016718:Arachidonic Acid / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D002331:Carnitine / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D015232:Dinoprostone / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D004347:Drug Interactions; D007700:Kinetics; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D008264:Macrophages / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D016718:Arachidonic Acid; D000527:Alprostadil; D015232:Dinoprostone; D002331:Carnitine; D020155:3-Hydroxybutyric Acid