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Effect of carnitine feeding on the levels of heart and skeletal muscle carnitine of elderly mice
Author(s) -
Costell Mercedes,
Grisolia Santiago
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/0014-5793(93)81129-n
Subject(s) - carnitine , sarcolemma , skeletal muscle , medicine , endocrinology , muscle weakness , chemistry , biology
Aging has been associated with an increase in muscle dysfunction and weakness. We found a decrease in muscle carnitine with age [Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 161 (1989) 1135‐1143], Prolonged oral administration to both young (2‐month‐old) and adult (7‐month‐old) mice with l ‐carnitine increased its content in blood by 50%. The levels of carnitine in skeletal and heart muscle of old treated animals became higher than in untreated mice of the same age. However, this extensive restoration did not reach the maximum values present in skeletal muscle of young mice. Our findings indicate that an alteration of the carnitine carrier in the sarcolemma could be responsible for the decrease with age of carnitine in skeletal but not in heart muscle.