CARNITINE LEVELS IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC RHEUMATIC HEART-DISEASE

Objective: Carnitine, a small aminoacid derivative plays a major role in fatty acid oxidation. Myocardial carnitine deficiency may cause mal function of the heart. Rheumatic valvular heart disease can be associa ted with myocardial dysfunction. We have investigated myocardial and p lasma-free carnitine levels in patients with chronic rheumatic heart d isease. Material and Methods: Eleven patients with chronic rheumatic h eart disease requiring valve replacement were selected for study. Ten patients with no cardiac failure, myocardial wall motion abnormalities and myocardial infarction and for whom coronary bypass surgery was pl anned were selected as the control group. Carnitine levels of myocardi al tissue obtained from the right atrium and plasma during the operati on were evaluated using spectrophotometric method. Myocardial-free car nitine levels expressed as mu mol/g (dry weight) were determined accor ding to Ceberblad and Lindstedt technique. Results: Myocardial-free ca rnitine levels in patients were found to be 0.72 +/- 0.37 mu mol/g (dr y weight) in comparison with 1.44 +/- 1.03 mu mol/g (dry weight) in th e control group. Myocardial-free carnitine levels in patients were sta tistically decreased when compared to control group. Plasma-free carni tine levels in patients were 80.91 +/- 28.22 mu mol/L and 89.52 +/- 48 .21 mu mol/L in the control group, respectively. There was no signific ant difference between plasma-free carnitine levels of the groups. Con clusion: In our study, myocardial-free carnitine levels were decreased while plasma-free carnitine levels were normal in patient with chroni c rheumatic heart disease.