The effect of exogenous L-carnitine on fat diet-induced hyperlipidemia in the rat.

In rats receiving a fat diet (75% Altromin R and 25% olive oil) ad libitum for 15 hours, an orally administered dose of 500 mg/kg L-carnitine produces: an increase in serum carnitine and acetyl-carnitine levels; a decrease in serum triglyceride (TG) and free fatty acid (FFA) levels; a normalization of the heart and liver carnitine pattern; a reduction of myocardial neutral lipase (NL) activity, without affecting lipoprotein lipase (LPL) of the heart. Under these experimentally-induced conditions, L-carnitine stimulates the excretion of acyl groups as acyl-carnitines with the urine. Acylcarnitines are practically absent from the urine of control animals.