ABSTRACT
Aim To investigate the changes of content of L-carnitine (LC ), acetyl-L-carnitine (ALC ) and propionyl-L-carnitine (PLC )in patients with diabetes and its complications.Methods By replicating meth-od of pre-column derivatization HPLC,the contents of plasma LC,ALC,PLC were detercted in normal sub-jects and in patients of diabetes mellitus,diabetic reti-nopathy, diabetic nephropathy, diabetic peripheral neuropathy,diabetic hypertension,diabetic coronary heart disease.Results The concentration of LC in normal subjects and in patients of diabetes mellitus, diabetic retinopathy, diabetic nephropathy, diabetic peripheral neuropathy,diabetic hypertension,diabetic coronary heart disease were (41.01 ±8.05 )μmol · L-1 ,(36.72 ±8.23 )μmol · L-1 ,(33.3 1 ±6.26 )μmol·L-1 ,(33.81 ±5.61 )μmol·L-1 ,(33.57 ± 6.67 )μmol · L-1 , (33.67 ±5.36 )μmol · L-1 , (32.87 ±6.05 )μmol · L-1 respectively.The plasma LC concentration in diabetic group was significantly lower than that of normal control group (P<0.05 ). Moreover,the LC concentration in other groups of dia-betic complications was lower than that in diabetic group, and LC concentration showed no significant difference in various groups of diabetic complications. There was no significant difference in the plasma con-centrations of ALC and PLC of diabetes group and the diabetic complication groups too.Conclusion In Chi-nese normal subjects,patients with diabetes and dia-betic complications,the plasma concentrations of LC in diabetic patients are lower than normal,and plasma concentration of LC in diabetic complications are lower than that in patients with diabetes mellitus.