The role of the carnitine system in myocardial fatty acid oxidation: carnitine deficiency, failing mitochondria and cardiomyopathy.

The carnitine system functions in the transport of activated acyl groups over the mitochondrial inner membrane, and is needed for oxidation of long-chain fatty acids by all mitochondria. The rate of cardiac fatty acid oxidation is determined by availability of fatty acids, oxygen and the activity of carnitine palmitoyltransferase I, which is regulated by a variety of factors. It is inhibited by malonyl-CoA, which in rat heart was found to be synthesized by acetyl-CoA carboxylase. It is also inhibited by long-chain acylcarnitine. Linoleoylcarnitine was found to be a better inhibitor than palmitoylcarnitine. The concentration of carnitine in human heart, muscle and other tissues is much higher than is needed for the optimal beta-oxidation rate. In contrast to controls, we found in several myopathic patients that extra carnitine (from 1/2 to 5 mM) caused a considerable increase in beta-oxidation rate of isolated muscle mitochondria. In some of these patients we detected medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency. Patients with primary carnitine deficiency caused by a renal carnitine leak often show cardiomyopathy, which completely disappears under carnitine therapy. Cardiomyopathy may also be the cause of secondary carnitine deficiency resulting from a mitochondrial defect in acyl-CoA metabolism, or by the mitochondrial defect itself, which may be induced by drugs or viral attack, or be the result of a genetic error. In cardiomyopathic patients with a (subclinical) myopathy, study of isolated mitochondria and homogenate from skeletal muscle may reveal a mitochondrial dysfunction, which, in some patients, is treatable by dietary measures and supplementation with vitamins, CoQ and/or carnitine. When the cause of cardiomyopathy is not known, determination of plasma carnitine and carnitine supplementation of hypocarnitinemic patients is of great therapeutic value.