[Status of carnitine in clinical nutrition. An explanatory trial]

During total parenteral alimentation of rats it could be demonstrated that carnitine supplementation in small (10 mg/kg B.W./day) and high (100 mg/kg B.W./day) amounts leads to an increased and only slightly elevated ketogenesis. The lower ketogenicity when carnitine is supplemented in high amounts is explained as a substrate withdrawal as a consequence of an outward transport of long-chain fatty acids in the form of carnitine conjugates from the mitochondrial matrix space. This reaction leads at the same time to an increased availability of mitochondrial CoA.