Effect of L-propionyl carnitine on some properties of erythrocytes and leukocytes of alcohol abusers.

The effect of L-propionyl carnitine, the carnitine derivative utilized as a more effective drug for membrane protection, on Na-K ATPase activity of erythrocyte ghosts of alcohol-dependent patients and blood donors has been investigated. The effect of L-propionyl carnitine on leukocyte chemotaxis and cytochrome c reduction, a measure of superoxide ion production was also studied. It has been in fact observed that alcohol is immunotoxic on both the non-specific and the specific immune response. In alcohol-dependent erythrocytes, a significant higher value of the 1H-NMR spin lattice relaxation time (T1) was observed as compared to blood-donor erythrocytes. The in-vitro addition of ethanol increases the T1 values of blood donor erythrocytes, whereas it is without effect on the T1 value of alcohol-dependent erythrocytes. The Na-K ATPase activity is higher in alcohol-dependent erythrocyte ghosts as compared to blood-donor ghosts. A non-significant increase of the Na-K ATPase activity of blood-donor ghosts was observed with the increasing of L-propionyl carnitine concentrations (from 0.2 to 5.0 mM), whereas the Na-K ATPase activity of alcohol-dependent ghosts decreases. From these combined effects the differences of Na-K ATPase activity progressively decrease with the increasing of L-propionyl carnitine concentration, and no significant differences are observed between the two groups at L-propionyl carnitine concentrations higher than 0.5 mM. The in-vitro addition of ethanol increases the enzyme activity to a greater extent in blood-donor ghosts as compared to alcohol-dependent ghosts. This in-vitro activation by ethanol is decreased by the addition of L-propionyl carnitine. The chemotaxis induced by N-formyl-methionyl-leucylphenylalanine and the superoxide anion production stimulated by zymosan is significantly lower in alcohol-dependent neutrophils. L-Propionyl carnitine increases, in a dose-dependent way, both chemotaxis and superoxide anion production of alcohol-dependent neutrophils, and no significant difference was observed between the two groups at 5 mM L-propionyl carnitine. These experimental results suggest that L-propionyl carnitine administration may be useful for reducing some acute and chronic damages due to alcohol ingestion. The protective and modulatory actions of L-propionyl carnitine may be even more evident in cells and tissues different from those investigated in this study and in which ethanol determines several biochemical damages.