Effects of l‐carnitine supplement on serum inflammatory cytokines, C‐reactive protein, lipoprotein (a), and oxidative stress in hemodialysis patients with Lp (a) hyperlipoproteinemia

Abstract

Inflammation, oxidative stress, and high concentration of serum lipoprotein (a) [Lp (a)] are common complications in hemodialysis patients. The present study was designed to investigate the effects of L-carnitine supplement on serum inflammatory cytokines, C-reactive protein (CRP), Lp (a), and oxidative stress in hemodialysis patients with Lp (a) hyperlipoproteinemia [hyper Lp (a)]. This was an unblinded, randomized clinical trial. Thirty-six hyper Lp (a) hemodialysis patients (23 men and 13 women) were randomly assigned to either a carnitine or control group. Patients in the carnitine group received 1000 mg/d oral L-carnitine for 12 weeks, whereas patients in the control group did not receive any L-carnitine supplement. At baseline and the end of week 12, 5 mL of blood were collected after a 12- to 14-hours fast and serum free carnitine, CRP, interleukin-1β, interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α, Lp (a), and oxidized low-density lipoprotein were measured. Serum free carnitine concentration increased significantly by 86% in the carnitine group at the end of week 12 compared with baseline (P<0.001), while serum CRP and IL-6 showed a significant decrease of 29% (P<0.05) and 61% (P<0.001), respectively. No significant changes were observed in serum free carnitine, CRP, and IL-6 in the control group. There were no significant differences between the two groups in mean changes of serum interleukin-1β, tumor necrosis factor-α, Lp (a), and oxidized low-density lipoprotein concentrations. L-carnitine supplement reduces inflammation in hemodialysis patients, but has no effect on hyper Lp (a) and oxidative stress.

Effects of L-carnitine supplementation on nutritional, immunological, and cardiac parameters in hemodialysis patients: a pilot study

“…Because it is reported that oral administration of 1000 mg/kg BW of L-carnitine decreased serum CRP and IL-6 [31,32], a higher dose may be required to alleviate the uremia-related inflammatory response.…”

Prevalence of Protein-energy Wasting and Its Various Types in Iranian Hemodialysis Patients: A New Classification

“…8 In recent years, several studies demonstrated that l-carnitine supplement could reduce inflammatory markers in HD patients. [32][33][34][35][36] In HD patients with PEW type IIa, nutrition counseling and adequate intakes of energy and protein in combination with elimination of chronic inflammation are necessary for treatment.…”

L-Carnitine supplementation ameliorates serum tumor necrosis factor-alpha and matrix metalloproteinase-3 in knee osteoarthritis women

“…L-carnitine has also been reported to have anti-inflammatory characteristic in previous investigations using animal models (Winter et al, 1995;Vescovo et al, 2002;Idrovo et al, 2012;Liu et al, 2011) and human studies, including patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (Derosa et al, 2011), nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (Malaguarnera et al, 2010), and coronary artery disease (Lee et al, 2014) and patients undergoing hemodialysis (Shakeri et al, 2010;Duranay et al, 2006;Suchitra et al, 2011). Moreover, our results demonstrated a significant difference between the treatment groups in serum level changes of MMP-3 through the study.…”