PROTECTIVE EFFECT OF PROPIONYL-L-CARNITINE AGAINST PAF-INDUCED RAT PAW EDEMA

Recent reports from our laboratory gave evidence showing that propiony l-L-carnitine (PLC), unlike L-carnitine (LC) and acetyl-L-carnitine (A LC), has anti-inflammatory activity in some models of vascular inflamm ation in rodents. The present paper shows that PLC (50 to 200 mg kg(-1 ) i.p.) inhibits rat paw oedema induced by platelet activating factor (PAF), while LC and ALC, as well as indomethacin and phenylbutazone, a re ineffective. The extent of the maximal inhibition produced by PLC a t 200 mg kg(-1) was comparable to that of betamethasone 0.05 mg kg(-1) or sodium salicylate 100 mg kg(-1). PLC inhibited also the early phas e (1-2 h) of carrageenin-induced rat paw oedema, which is partly depen dent on PAF release, but it was ineffective in the eicosanoid-dependen t late phase (3-4 h) of the carrageenin oedema. We suggest that such a nti-inflammatory activity of PLC may be due to various mechanisms conv erging on a stabilizing action upon biomembranes.