Carnitine ester hydrolysis in arteries from normal and cholesterol-fed rabbits and the effects of carnitine esters on arterial microsomal ACAT.

F P Bell

Comparative biochemistry and physiology. B, Comparative biochemistry 1984

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Carnitine ester hydrolysis was observed in homogenates of normal rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) aortas and in intact aortas from normal and cholesterol-fed rabbits using [14C]palmitoylcarnitine as a substrate. Hydrolytic activity was decreased approximately 50% in arterial tissue from cholesterol-fed rabbits and may account for the observation that carnitine esters accumulate in arteries of animals fed atherogenic diets. Long-chain acylcarnitines (C14-C18) were found to be moderate inhibitors of microsomal acylCoA:cholesterol acyltransferase (ACAT, EC 2.3.1.26); short-chain acylcarnitine (C2-C10) and carnitine itself were not inhibitors. The data suggest that the increase in activity of arterial ACAT that characteristically parallels the development of atherosclerosis does not occur as a result of carnitine ester accumulation.

Citation

F P Bell. Carnitine ester hydrolysis in arteries from normal and cholesterol-fed rabbits and the effects of carnitine esters on arterial microsomal ACAT. Comparative biochemistry and physiology. B, Comparative biochemistry. 1984;79(2):125-8