Carnitine, Total details
What Carnitine, Total shows
Carnitine is made by your body and found in meat and dairy, and it carries fatty acids into cells to be burned for energy. In blood it exists as free carnitine and as esters (acylcarnitines), attached to fatty acids. This test measures total carnitine, the sum of the free and ester forms. It helps check for carnitine deficiency, for example when muscle weakness, low blood sugar or a metabolic disorder is suspected. A low level can point to a reduced overall supply of carnitine, and the split between free and ester forms adds further detail. Low carnitine can occur with inherited metabolic disorders, dialysis, poor intake or some medications, so results are read with your history and other tests.
Tests that include Carnitine, Total
Serum carnitine analysis is useful in the diagnosis and monitoring of patients with carnitine deficiency (either primary or secondary). Primary carnitine deficiency is an autosomal recessively inherited genetic condition that affects carnitine uptake by cells and tissues through a defect in the plasma membrane carnitine transporter. Secondary carnitine deficiency can be seen in some disease states or in patients on carnitine-poor diets, but is also seen in a number of metabolic disorders. In these disorders, carnitine complexes with the accumulated substrate of the blocked metabolic step, and the resulting acylcarnitine ester is excreted in the urine, leading to a depletion of carnitine in the patient.
- Carnitine, Esters Shows the amount of carnitine bound to fatty acids in your blood, calculated from total and free carnitine, used to assess carnitine and fat metabolism.
- Carnitine, Free Measures free, unbound carnitine in your blood, which helps move fats into cells for energy, to look for carnitine deficiency.
- Carnitine, Total Measures total carnitine in your blood, both free and bound forms, to check for carnitine deficiency and look at fat metabolism.
- Esterified/Free Ratio A ratio calculated from esterified (acyl) carnitine and free carnitine in serum, used to help assess carnitine status and how fats are being processed.
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