ABSTRACT
Carnitine plays important roles in lipid metabolism, where it participates in transesterification reactions. A number of spectrophotometric enzymatic methods that employ carnitine acetyltransferase have been utilized for the measurement of serum carnitine. The toxicity of carnitine appears to be quire low. Chronic hemodialysis patients have significant losses of carnitine from plasma and muscle. Healthy adults can normally synthesize adequate amounts of carnitine to meet their metabolic needs. L-carnitine enzymatic assay kits are available for measuring carnitine in urine and plasma or serum. Such convenient kits have been available from Boehringer Mannheim, Indianapolis, IN. Low tissue carnitine concentrations may lead to intramuscular lipid accumulation and muscular weakness. A conditional carnitine requirement may result from a number of conditions such as high carnitine requirements of neonates and premature infants, excess loss of carnitine as with hemodialysis, ability to biosynthesize carnitine reduced and genetic and congential disorders.
