Background and objectives: Cardiovascular diseases are the most important cause of death in patients with chronic renal failure, including hemodialysis patients. Systemic inflammatory factors, including serum amyloid A and vascular inflammatory factors, are two major risk factors for atherosclerosis in these patients. The present study was designed to investigate the effects of L-carnitine supplement on serum amyloid A and vascular inflammatory factors in hemodialysis patients.
Materials and methods: The study was a double-blind randomized clinical trial. Fourty-two hemodialysis patients (25 females and 17 males) were randomly assigned to either carnitine or a placebo group. The patients in the carnitine group received a vial containing 1000 mg oral L-carnitine daily for 12 weeks, while the placebo group received a corresponding placebo vial. At the baseline and the end of the 12th week of the study, 5 ml blood was collected from each patient and each control individual after a 12- to 14-hour fast before dialysis and serum amyloid A, free carnitine, sICAM-1, sICAM-2, sVCAM-1, sE-selectin, sP-selectin and ox-LDL levels were measured.
Results: The mean serum free carnitine concentration increased by 150% in the carnitine group at the end of the 12th week as compared to the baseline value (P<0.001), while the serum amyloid A level decreased by 32% (P<0.001). No significant changes were observed in the serum concentrations of free carnitine or serum amyloid A in the control group. In addition, no significant differences were observed between the two groups in the mean changes of serum sICAM-1, sICAM-2, sVCAM-1, sE-selectin, sP-selectin or ox-LDL concentrations.
Conclusion: The results of the present study indicate that L-carnitine supplement can reduce serum
amyloid A concentration, as a systemic inflammatory indicator, in hemodialysis patients and may play an effective role in preventing cardiovascular diseases in these patients, while it has no effect on the serum vascular inflammatory factors.
Hakeshzadeh F, Tabibi M, Hedayati M, Malakoutian T. Effects of L-carnitine supplement on serum amyloid A and vascular inflammatory factors in hemodialysis patients. Iranian J Nutr Sci Food Technol 2008; 3 (3) :33-43 URL: http://nsft.sbmu.ac.ir/article-1-93-en.html