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Nutrient Metabolism

Dietary L-Carnitine Enhances the Lymphatic Absorption of Fat and -Tocopherol in Ovariectomized Rats¹

Wei Zou², Sang K. Noh³, Kevin Q. Owen and Sung I. Koo^*,4

Department of Human Nutrition, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506; ^* Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269; and Lonza, Incorporated, Fair Lawn, NJ 07410

⁴To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: sung.koo{at}uconn.edu.

This study was conducted to determine whether the feeding of dietary L-carnitine (CN) improves the intestinal absorption of fat and -tocopherol (TOH) in ovariectomized (OX) rats. OX adult rats were weight-matched and assigned to 2 groups fed a modified AIN-93G diet containing TOH-stripped soybean oil without (–CN) or with (+CN) supplemental CN at 150 mg/kg diet. At 5 wk, each rat with a lymph cannula was infused intraduodenally at 3.0 mL/h with a lipid emulsion consisting of 565 µmol triolein labeled with ¹⁴C (¹⁴C-OA), 3.6 µmol TOH, and 396 µmol sodium taurocholate in 24 mL PBS buffer. Lymph was collected hourly for 8 h and analyzed for lipids. The lymphatic absorption of TOH for 8 h in +CN rats (899 ± 201 nmol) was higher (P < 0.05) than in –CN rats (587 ± 92 nmol). The absorption of ¹⁴C-OA in +CN rats (53.5 ± 4.0% dose/8 h) also was increased (P < 0.05) compared with –CN rats (47.6 ± 5.0% dose/8 h). Lymph flow did not differ between the groups. When bile was diverted but with infusion of sodium taurocholate, the lymphatic absorption of lipids did not differ. The present study provides evidence that dietary CN enhances the rates and amounts of lymphatic absorption of TOH and fat in OX rats. Our findings suggest that dietary CN may influence the process of lipid packaging and absorption by the enterocyte in OX rats, and may explain in part the increased status of TOH in CN-fed animals.

KEY WORDS: • carnitine • fat • intestinal absorption • -tocopherol • ovariectomy • rats