Jones Mark G, Goodwin C Stewart, Amjad Saira, Chalmers Ronald A
St. George's Hospital Medical School, Cranmer Terrace, London, SW17 0RE, UK.
Clin Chim Acta. 2005 Oct;360(1-2):173-7. doi: 10.1016/j.cccn.2005.04.029.
Contradictory reports have suggested that serum free carnitine and acylcarnitine concentrations are decreased in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and that this is a cause of the muscle fatigue observed in these patients. Others have shown normal serum free carnitine and acylcarnitines in similar patients. We report here studies on free, total and esterified (acyl) carnitines in urine and blood plasma from UK patients with CFS and three control groups. Plasma and timed urine samples were obtained from 31 patients with CFS, 31 healthy controls, 15 patients with depression and 22 patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Samples were analysed using an established radioenzymatic procedure for total, free and esterified (acyl) carnitine. There were no significant differences in plasma or urinary total, free or esterified (acyl) carnitine between UK patients with CFS and the control groups or in renal excretion rates of these compounds. The data presented here show that, in the CFS patients studied, there are no significant abnormalities of free or esterified (acyl) carnitine. It is thus unlikely that abnormalities in carnitine homeostasis have any significant role in the aetiology of their chronic fatigue.
相互矛盾的报告表明，慢性疲劳综合征（CFS）患者血清游离肉碱和酰基肉碱浓度降低，且这是这些患者出现肌肉疲劳的原因。另一些研究则表明，类似患者的血清游离肉碱和酰基肉碱水平正常。我们在此报告对英国CFS患者以及三个对照组的尿液和血浆中游离、总及酯化（酰基）肉碱的研究。从31例CFS患者、31例健康对照、15例抑郁症患者和22例类风湿性关节炎患者中获取血浆和定时尿液样本。使用既定的放射性酶法分析样本中的总、游离及酯化（酰基）肉碱。英国CFS患者与对照组之间，血浆或尿液中的总、游离或酯化（酰基）肉碱，以及这些化合物的肾脏排泄率均无显著差异。此处呈现的数据表明，在所研究的CFS患者中，游离或酯化（酰基）肉碱无明显异常。因此，肉碱稳态异常在其慢性疲劳病因学中不太可能起重要作用。
