Cardiac carnitine acyltransferase activities in exercised normal and dystrophic hamsters

Carnitine acyltransferase activities in the hearts of normal and dystrophic, sedentary and swim exercised hamsters were studied, in order to analyze the relationship between carnitine metabolism and exercise in cardiomyopathy. After 12 weeks, the mean specific activities of cardiac carnitine acetyltransferase (CAT), carnitine octanoyltransferase (COT) and carnitine palmitoyltransferase (CPT) were significantly higher in the dystrophic sedentary group, relative to the normal sedentary group (p less than 0.05). There was no significant effect of exercise on the mean specific activity of the carnitine acyltransferases, compared to the dystrophic or normal sedentary controls. Thus, the improvements in cardiac histopathology due to exercise noted previously are not associated with altered carnitine acyltransferase activity.