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Randomised clinical trial: the efficacy and safety of propionyl-L-carnitine therapy in patients with ulcerative colitis receiving stable oral treatment
Plain-language guide to PMID 21929562 (2011): double-blind randomized controlled trial study of L-Carnitine.
Key Facts
- PMID
- 21929562
- Journal
- Alimentary pharmacology & therapeutics
- Year
- 2011
- Study type
- Randomized Controlled Trial
- Authors
- Mikhailova TL et al. (20 authors)
- DOI
- 10.1111/j.1365-2036.2011.04844.x
What This Study Did, in Plain Language
What Was Tested
This randomized controlled trial paper looks at L-Carnitine.
Ulcerative colitis (UC) is characterised by impaired fatty-acid oxidation; l-carnitine has a key role in fatty-acid metabolism and short-chain fatty acids such as butyrate and propionate are important energy source for intestinal epithelial cells.
Who Took Part
PubMed indexes the participants as young adults, adults and middle-aged adults, both men and women.
Main inclusion criteria were as follows: age 18-75; disease activity index (DAI) score 3-10 inclusive, be under oral stable treatment with aminosalicylate or thiopurine.
How the Study Was Run
The design is described as randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter and parallel-group.
The participants were allocated by chance, so the L-Carnitine group and the comparison group should start out alike.
Blinding on both sides kept the participants and researchers unaware of who received L-Carnitine.
A placebo (an inactive look-alike) gave the L-Carnitine group a baseline to be compared against.
Running at several centres spread the L-Carnitine study over different clinics and patient groups.
What Was Measured
Ulcerative colitis (UC) is characterised by impaired fatty-acid oxidation; l-carnitine has a key role in fatty-acid metabolism and short-chain fatty acids such as butyrate and propionate are important energy source for intestinal epithelial cells.
PubMed files the paper under topics including Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal, Carnitine, Cohort Studies and Colitis, Ulcerative.
What This Means in Plain Language
The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of L-Carnitine.
Results are reported in around 5 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.
The publication is from 2011 (Alimentary pharmacology & therapeutics), a journal based in England.
More context: the L-Carnitine compound page, all human trials.
Our Notes on the Compound
L-Carnitine: An amino acid derivative that carries fatty acids into mitochondria for energy production.
Related Pages
Source: PubMed record. This explanation is written by PeptideWhiz from the public record. For research and education only. Not medical advice; no dosing information is given.