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Medium-Chain Fatty Acid Oxidation in Colostrum-Deprived Newborn Piglets: Stimulative Effect of L-Carnitine Supplementation^1,2,3,

Division of Nutritional Sciences and Department of Animal Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801

To investigate the role of L-carnitine in medium-chain fatty acid (MCFA, fatty acids with 6–12 carbons) metabolism, 16 newborn pigs were fitted with umbilical arterial catheters. Pigs were placed in respiration chambers, and [1-¹⁴C]MCFA were infused for 9–12 h providing energy equivalent to 50–175% of the animals' metabolic rate. After 5–7 h (carnitine-free infusion period) of MCFA infusion, a primed (12.5, 25 or 50 µmol) co-infusion of L-carnitine [5, 10 or 20 µmol/(h·kg^0.75), respectively] was started and maintained for 4–5 h (carnitine infusion period). The fatty acid oxidation rate (MCFA-derived CO₂/total CO₂ x 100) was calculated based on the specific radioactivity of expired CO₂ (measured per 20-min interval) and the specific radioactivity of the MCFA infused. A single-pool exponential curve was fitted to the fatty acid oxidation rate of the carnitine-free infusion period and was extrapolated to the carnitine infusion period. For each piglet, the average difference between fatty acid oxidation rate during the carnitine infusion period and the extrapolated curve was calculated and tested for significance using a t test. Under steady state conditions, MCFA oxidation accounted for 40% of MCFA infused. Carnitine, independent of the level, increased the fatty acid oxidation rate by as much as 20% if the energy provided as MCFA exceeded 50% of the metabolic needs of the pig (P < 0.01), and the response above 50% was proportional to the relative rate of fatty acid infusion (increase in fatty acid oxidation rate = -3.9 + 0.07 x infusion rate, r 0.76). Given the potential for carnitine to increase MCFA oxidation in vivo, more research may warrant inclusion of carnitine in nutrition solutions containing MCFA.

KEY WORDS: • carnitine • medium-chain fatty acids • total parenteral nutrition • neonatal piglets

¹ The data presented in this paper were presented in part at the 1991 FASEB meetings in Atlanta, GA. [Kempen, T.A.T.G. van & Odle, J. (1991) Does supplemental carnitine affect octanoate oxidation in colostrum-deprived newborn pigs? FASEB J. 5: A593 (abs.)].

² Support was provided by an International Life Sciences Institute Nutrition Foundation Future Leader Award, a Biomedical Research Support Grant, the National Pork Producers Council, and the University of Illinois Agricultural Experimentation Station (#35-379).

³ The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 USC section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.

⁴ To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Manuscript received 20 January 1993. Revision accepted 19 May 1993.