Myocardial carnitine in end-stage congestive heart failure

Mary Ella M Pierpont, Dianne Judd, Irvin F. Goldenberg, W. Steves Ring, Maria Teresa Olivari, Gordon L. Pierpont

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

30 Scopus citations

Abstract

To test the hypothesis that carnitine is decreased in the myocardial tissue of patients with end-stage congestive heart failure (CHF), left ventricular myocardial carnitine was measured in 51 patients undergoing orthotopic cardiac transplantation. The study group included patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy, coronary artery disease, myocarditis and rheumatic heart disease. Myocardial carnitine varied in different cardiac chambers. In normal control hearts, the left and right ventricular total carnitine was similar, but the ventricles had higher levels than the atria (p < 0.005); in 30 hearts in CHF, the left ventricular total carnitine was higher than in the right ventricle (p < 0.001) and both ventricles had higher total carnitine than the atria (p < 0.005). Only 7 of 51 patients with CHF had low myocardial carnitine, whereas plasma carnitine was elevated in all diagnostic groups of end-stage CHF studied.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)56-60
Number of pages5
JournalThe American journal of cardiology
Volume64
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 1 1989

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine

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