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Title: Altered carnitine transport in pressure-overload hypertrophied rat hearts

Conference · · Fed. Proc., Fed. Am. Soc. Exp. Biol.; (United States)
OSTI ID:5449999

The authors have previously observed reduced carnitine levels in hypertrophied hearts of rats subjected to aortic constriction. In an attempt to determine the mechanism for reduced myocardial carnitine content, carnitine transport was examined in isolated perfused hearts. Hearts were excised from sham-operated and aortic-constricted rats 3 weeks following surgery and perfused at 60 mm Hg aortic pressure with buffer containing various concentrations of L-/sup 14/C-carnitine. Carnitine uptake by control and hypertrophied hearts was linear throughout 30 minutes of perfusion with 40 ..mu..M carnitine. Total carnitine uptake was significantly reduced by 25% in hypertrophied hearts at each time point examined. The reduction in uptake by hypertrophied hearts was also evident when hearts were perfused with 100 or 200 ..mu..M carnitine. When 0.05 mM mersalyl acid was included in the buffer to inhibit the carrier-mediated component of transport, no difference in carnitine uptake was observed indicating that the transport of carnitine by diffusion was unaltered in the hypertrophied myocardium. Carrier-mediated carnitine uptake (total uptake - uptake by diffusion) was significantly reduced by approximately 40% in hypertrophied hearts at all concentrations examined. Thus, the reduction in carnitine content in the pressure-overload hypertrophied rat heart appears to be due to a reduction in carrier-mediated carnitine uptake by the heart.

Research Organization:
Thomas Jefferson Univ., Philadelphia, PA
OSTI ID:
5449999
Report Number(s):
CONF-8604222-
Journal Information:
Fed. Proc., Fed. Am. Soc. Exp. Biol.; (United States), Vol. 45:3; Conference: 70. annual meeting of the Federation of American Society for Experimental Biology, St. Louis, MO, USA, 13 Apr 1986
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English