SPECIFICITY OF CARNITINE IN ATTENUATION OF ETHANOL-METABOLISM IN THE RAT

The objective of this study was to determine if carnitine-mediated att enuation of ethanol metabolism could be produced by choline. Male, Spr ague-Dawley rats were fed a semisynthetic diet, nonsupplemented (NS) o r supplemented with equimolar amounts of choline (CHS) or L-carnitine (CS). Carnitine and acylarnitnes were determined in urine which have b een shown to be correlated with blood carnitines. A single oral dose ( 3g/Kg bw) of ethanol was administered 4 wk after dietary treatments an d serial blood samples were collected from 0-8 h post-ethanol administ ration. The CS group had significantly higher levels of urinary carnit ines. The blood-ethanol concentrations of the CS group were significan tly higher from those of the NS or CHS groups. The pharmacokinetic par ameters revealed that ethanol clearance was significantly retarded in the CS rats. It is concluded that attenuation of ethanol metabolism is specific to carnitine as it could not be produced by equimolar cholin e supplementation.