BMC Pharmacology and Toxicology

Table 2 Concentrations of total carnitine and its precursors (BB and TML) in plasma, liver and gastrocnemius muscle of lean rats (Lean), obese Zucker rats fed a control diet (Obese Control) or obese Zucker rats fed a diet supplemented with 780 mg niacin/kg diet (Obese Niacin) for 4 wk ¹

From: Pharmacological doses of niacin stimulate the expression of genes involved in carnitine uptake and biosynthesis and improve the carnitine status of obese Zucker rats

	Lean	Obese control	Obese niacin
Plasma (μmol/l)
Total Carnitine	62.4 ± 2.1^a	39.5 ± 1.1^c	48.4 ± 2.9^b
γ-Butyrobetaine (BB)	0.75 ± 0.04^a	0.36 ± 0.04^b	0.42 ± 0.05^b
Trimethyllysine (TML)	0.89 ± 0.03^a	0.64 ± 0.02^b	0.67 ± 0.03^b
Skeletal muscle (nmol/g)
Total Carnitine	730 ± 26^a	602 ± 28^b	681 ± 28^a
γ-Butyrobetaine (BB)	10.9 ± 0.5^a	8.42 ± 0.40^ab	7.31 ± 0.65^b
Trimethyllysine (TML)	73.7 ± 11.5	58.7 ± 10.5	58.8 ± 3.8
Liver (nmol/g)
Total Carnitine	289 ± 10^b	298 ± 7^b	334 ± 12^a
γ-Butyrobetaine (BB)	3.32 ± 0.35^a	2.12 ± 0.13^b	1.93 ± 0.17^b
Trimethyllysine (TML)	16.5 ± 1.6	13.5 ± 0.7	14.1 ± 0.8

¹Data are expressed as means ± SEM. n = 10 rats/group. ^a,bValues with different superscript letters differ, P < 0.05.

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