Motazedian Nasrin, Ashari Anita, Dehdari Ebrahimi Niloofar, Sayadi Mehrab, Pourjafar Sarina, Motazedian Nazanin, Khademi Vahid, Shamsaeefar Alireza, Eshraghian Ahad
Transplant Research Center Shiraz University of Medical Sciences Shiraz Iran.
Shiraz Geriatric Research Center Shiraz University of Medical Sciences Shiraz Iran.
Health Sci Rep. 2024 Oct 27;7(11):e70148. doi: 10.1002/hsr2.70148. eCollection 2024 Nov.
Frailty is a common complication in patients with liver cirrhosis, which is linked with augmented rates of morbidity and mortality. In this regard, timely nutritional assessment and intervention have gained scientific attention. L-carnitine may be a promising candidate with its potential to enhance energy metabolism, reduce inflammation, and act as an antioxidant. Therefore, we aimed to assess the impact of l-carnitine supplementation on frailty status and liver function in adults with liver cirrhosis.
This double-blinded, randomized, controlled clinical trial study enrolled 77 patients with liver cirrhosis. Patients were randomly allocated into two groups: the control group ( = 42) and the l-carnitine group ( = 35). The l-carnitine group received 500 mg of l-carnitine orally three times a day for 8 weeks, while the control group did not receive any intervention.
L-carnitine administration resulted in a significant decrease in alanine transaminase levels (: 0.043) and partial thromboplastin time (: 0.036). Furthermore, compared to the control group, l-carnitine treatment led to improvements in prothrombin time (: 0.008) and international normalized ratio (: 0.024). However, no significant improvement in the Liver Frailty Index, Freid Frailty Index, and Karnofsky Performance Status Scale ( > 0.05) was observed in the carnitine group after the 8-week intervention period.
In conclusion, the administration of l-carnitine exhibited hepatoprotective properties and was correlated with lowered alanine transaminase levels with improvement in coagulation status in liver cirrhosis patients. Nevertheless, our study indicated that the short-term use of l-carnitine might not significantly improve frailty in these patients.
衰弱是肝硬化患者常见的并发症，与发病率和死亡率的增加相关。在这方面，及时的营养评估和干预已受到科学关注。左旋肉碱可能是一个有前景的候选物质，因其具有增强能量代谢、减轻炎症和充当抗氧化剂的潜力。因此，我们旨在评估补充左旋肉碱对成年肝硬化患者衰弱状态和肝功能的影响。
这项双盲、随机、对照临床试验研究纳入了77例肝硬化患者。患者被随机分为两组：对照组（n = 42）和左旋肉碱组（n = 35）。左旋肉碱组每天口服500毫克左旋肉碱，共3次，持续8周，而对照组未接受任何干预。
给予左旋肉碱导致丙氨酸转氨酶水平显著降低（P = 0.043）和部分凝血活酶时间显著降低（P = 0.036）。此外，与对照组相比，左旋肉碱治疗使凝血酶原时间（P = 0.008）和国际标准化比值（P = 0.024）得到改善。然而，在为期8周的干预期后，左旋肉碱组在肝脏衰弱指数、弗里德衰弱指数和卡诺夫斯基功能状态量表方面未观察到显著改善（P > 0.05）。
总之，给予左旋肉碱具有肝脏保护作用，并与肝硬化患者丙氨酸转氨酶水平降低及凝血状态改善相关。然而，我们的研究表明，短期使用左旋肉碱可能不会显著改善这些患者的衰弱状况。
