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Dietary Carnitine and Adipose Tissue Turnover Rate in Exercise Trained Rats^1,2,3,

Department of Nutrition, Letterman Army Institute of Research, Presidio of San Francisco, California 94129

Rats trained by 12 weeks of treadmill running were divided into two groups and fed a control diet or an identical diet supplemented with 0.5% L-carnitine. Adipose tissue fatty acid turnover was subsequently estimated by an odd-carbon fatty acid enrichment method utilizing undecanoate as a marker representative of adipose tissue fatty acids. Compared to sedentary untrained control rats, exercise training increased perirenal adipose tissue turnover rate approximately 70%. Trained rats fed the carnitine supplemented diet did not exhibit any further increase in turnover rate. Neither [1-¹⁴C]palmitate oxidation by skeletal muscle homogenates nor palmitylcarnitine acyl-transferase activity in skeletal muscle mitochondria was affected by carnitine feeding. The results of this study indicate that exercise training increases the turnover rate of adipose tissue fatty acids, but supplemental dietary carnitine does not. Under the conditions of this study, endogenous skeletal muscle carnitine levels in trained rats appear to be adequate to support the rate of fatty acid oxidation incurred by daily treadmill running.

KEY WORDS: • exercise • carnitine • undecanoate • adipose tissue turnover • fatty acid oxidation • palmitylcarnitine acyltransferase

¹ The opinions or assertations contained herein are the private views of the authors and are not to be construed as official or reflecting the views of the Department of the Army or the Department of Defense.

² In conducting the research described in this report, the investigators adhered to the "Guide for Laboratory Animal Facilities and Care," as promulgated by the Committee on the Guide for Laboratory Animal Resources, National Academy of Sciences—National Research Council.

³ A preliminary report of a portion of this work has previously been published in abstract form: Askew, W. E., Hecker, A. L., Wise, W. R., Jr. & Kuhl, G. L. (1974) Adipose tissue metabolism and turnover rate: response to exercise and dietary carnitine. Federation Proc. 33, 677.

Manuscript received 5 May 1976.