Summary
The pharmacokinetics and safety of a brief i. v. infusion of l-carnitine 0, 20, 40 and 60 mg/kg have been investigated in 10 healthy subjects.
The diurnal intraindividual variability of plasma carnitine was small (C. V.=3.0, 3.9 and 3.9%, respectively), and the total 24 h excretion in urine was also small and relatively constant: 4.6, 21.5 and 13.0 mg/day in the controls vs 4.6, 20.2 and 6.0 mg/day during treatment in the three subjects to whom saline alone was administered according to a single-blind design. Therefore, the pre-dose level of carnitine was subtracted from the level after dosing for the pharmacokinetic analysis. Plasma carnitine fitted well to a three-compartment open model, with Vc of 0.11–0.20 l/kg and a t1/2γ of 10–23 h. The urine recovery in 24 h was 77.2–95.4%.
There were no objective or subjective side-effects attributable to carnitine, so its i. v. infusion is considered to be safe.
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Uematsu, T., Itaya, T., Nishimoto, M. et al. Pharmacokinetics and safety of l-carnitine infused i. v. in healthy subjects. Eur J Clin Pharmacol 34, 213–216 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00614562
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00614562