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The effect of starvation on brain carnitine concentration in neonatal rats
R Murakami1, A Tanaka, H Nakamura
1Department of Pediatrics, Awaji Prefectural Hospital, Hyougo-ken, Japan.
Background:
We examined carnitine concentrations in fasted neonatal rat brain to evaluate the effect of starvation on fatty acid metabolism.
Methods:
The free- and acylcarnitine concentrations in neonatal rat brain and heart were determined after a 72-hour starvation period from the 3rd to 6th postnatal day. They were also determined in rats at 3 and 6 days of age fed normally by the mother rats as controls.
Results:
In the brain, the mean free carnitine concentration in the fasted group showed an increase similar to that in normal rats and there was no difference between the fasted and 6-day-old control rats. However, the mean acylcarnitine concentration was significantly higher in the fasted group than in the control group at both 3 and 6 days of age. Almost all of the increased acylcarnitine in the fasted group was short-chain acylcarnitine. In the heart, there was no difference in the mean free carnitine concentration between the fasted group and control group at 6 days of age. The 6-day-old rats in both the fasted and control groups showed higher levels compared to 3-day-old rats in the control group. The mean acylcarnitine concentration in the fasted group was not different from that in control group at 6 days of age, while the amount of short-chain acylcarnitine was less than that in the control group at 6 days of age.
Conclusions:
These findings suggest that in the brain, carnitine is accumulated as a result of redistribution during starvation, and is utilized for energy supply by fatty acid oxidation.