Effect of clofibrate and gemfibrozil on the activities of mitochondrial carnitine acyltransferases in rat liver. Dose--response relations.

The effects of different doses of clofibrate and gemfibrozil on liver size, serum triglyceride concentration and the activities of hepatic mitochondrial alpha-glycerophosphate dehydrogenase (alpha-GPD) and carnitine acyltransferases were studied in male rats. Both clofibrate and gemfibrozil treatment effectively decreased the fructose-induced hypertriglyceridaemia and increased the liver to body weight ratio. Clofibrate treatment also induced an increase of many times in the activities of mitochondrial alpha-GPD and carnitine acyltransferases, the effect increasing with the dose used. The effect of gemfibrozil on the activities of the enzymes was significantly smaller. There was no correlation between the decrease in serum triglyceride concentration and the changes in the activities of the enzymes. Only clofibrate increased the rate of fatty acylcarnitine oxidation in isolated mitochondria. It is concluded that both drugs increased the size of the rat liver, but that only clofibrate influenced the mitochondrial enzyme activities of mitochondrial carnitine acyltransferases and the accelerated mitochondrial oxidation of fatty acids are not the mechanisms by which these drugs lower serum lipid levels.