2012 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Role of carnitine transporter in skeletal bioenergetics during muscle contraction
| Project/Area Number |
23650404
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
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| Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund |
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| Research Field |
Sports science
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| Research Institution | Kanazawa University |
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Principal Investigator |
MASUDA Kazumi 金沢大学, 人間科学系, 教授 (50323283)
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| Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha) |
IWANAKA Nobumasa 金沢大学, 人間科学系, 研究員(博士研究員) (80584002)
KATO Yukio 金沢大学, 薬学系, 教授 (30251440)
SUGIURA Tomoko 金沢大学, 薬学系, 助教 (70542190)
HASHIMOTO Takeshi 立命館大学, スポーツ健康科学部, 准教授 (70511608)
HANAI Yoshiteru 名古屋工業大学, 工学研究科, 准教授 (50360730)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2011 – 2012
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| Keywords | 骨格筋 / トランスポーター / カルニチン / 脂肪酸 / 代謝 |
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| Research Abstract |
In skeletal muscle, carnitine is essential for the translocation of long-chain fatty-acids into the mitochondrial matrix for subsequent β-oxidation Based on the concept that increased carnitine availability is beneficial to skeletal muscle metabolic process, a large amount of research was directed towards investigating the effects of carnitine supplementation on exercise performance. However, it has been debated about contribution of carnitine for energy metabolism in skeletal muscle and whether carnitine supplementation can improve physical performance in healthy subjects. In order to resolve the key issues, the present study focused on the carnitine transport mechanism across the skeletal muscle plasma membrane. Due to lack of endogenous synthesis of carnitine in myocytes, skeletal muscles need to import this molecule from blood, suggesting that muscle carnitine uptake is most likely the limiting factor to muscle carnitine availability. The specific carnitine transporter, OCTN2, is expressed in skeletal muscles and is assumed to transport carnitine into myocytes. The present study obtained several scientific evidences that carnitine uptake capacity via the OCTN2 is up-regulated during muscle contraction through the mechanisms of OCTN2 translocation from cytosol toward plasma membrane.
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