Carnitine Infusion and Insulin Resistance

• Status: Terminated
• Trial end date: 2017-06-01
• Target enrollment: 0
• Participant gender: Male

Summary

Insulin resistant subjects and type 2 diabetic patients are characterized by a decreased metabolic flexibility: a reduced capability to switch from fat oxidation in the basal state to carbohydrate oxidation in the insulin-stimulated state. This metabolic inflexibility is an early hallmark in the development of diabetes. Recent evidence suggests that a low carnitine availability may limit acetylcarnitine formation, thereby reducing metabolic flexibility. Thus, when substrate flux in the muscle is high, acetyl-CoA concentrations increase, leading to inhibition of pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) and thereby reducing glucose oxidation. The conversion of acetyl-CoA to acetylcarnitine relieves this acetyl-CoA pressure on PDH. To provide more direct insight into the effect of carnitine in preventing metabolic inflexibility and insulin resistance and to further explore the mechanism of action is the focus of this research. Here, we hypothesize that the capacity to form acetylcarnitine may rescue lipid-induced insulin resistance. To this end, insulin resistance will be induced by lipid infusion in healthy volunteers and it will be tested whether carnitine co-infusion can alleviate insulin resistance.

• Phase: N/A
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers?: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Details

• Lead Sponsor: Maastricht University Medical Center
• Treatments: Insulin; Soybean oil, phospholipid emulsion

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• • Caucasian

• Healthy (as determined by responsible physician based on a medical questionnaire)

• Male

• Age: 18-40 years

• Normal BMI: 18-25 kg/m2

• Stable dietary habits

• No use of medication interfering with investigated study parameters (as determined by responsible physician)

Exclusion Criteria:

• • Female

• Haemoglobin levels < 7.8 mmol/L

• Uncontrolled hypertension

• Use of anticoagulants

• Engagement in exercise > 3 hours a week

• Being vegetarian or vegan (because of altered whole body carnitine status)

• Smoking

• Alcohol and/or drug abuse

• Unstable body weight (weight gain or loss > 5kg in the last 3 months)

• Significant food allergies/intolerances (seriously hampering study meals)

• Participation in another biomedical study within 1 month before the first study visit, which would possibly hamper our study results

• Medication use known to hamper subject's safety during the study procedures

• Medication use known to interfere with investigated study parameters

• Subjects with contra-indications for MRI

• Subjects who intend to donate blood during the intervention or subjects who have donated blood less than three months before the start of the study

• Subjects who do not want to be informed about unexpected medical findings

• Subjects who do not want that their treating physician is informed