Bicycle ergometer and echocardiographic study in healthy subjects and patients with angina pectoris after administration of L-carnitine: semiautomatic computerized analysis of M-mode tracing.

Abstract

The discovery tha carnitine takes an active part in the transportation of long-chain acyl residues across the inner mitochondrial membrane dates back to 1958. It has been shown experimentally tha a reduction in myocardial carnitine content takes place after 15-30 min of ischemia. L-carnitine was administered orally in doses of 3 g/day for 30 days to 16 subjects with effort-induced angina and to 14 healthy subjects. A bicycle ergometer exercise test revealed a 1.5 mm (mean) depression of the ST-T segment in the angina subjects after pharmacological wash-out and a 1 mm depression in the same subjects after carnitine treatment. M-code echocardiography showed positive changes in a number of ventricular function parameters in the angina subjects and also, to a lesser extent, in the healthy controls.