Plasma carnitine and lipid-lowering drugs.

Oral carnitine has been reported to have a lipid-lowering effect with concomitant elevation of high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels in normo- and hyperlipidemic individuals. Unexpectedly, basal carnitine concentrations were found to be abnormally high in subjects receiving a combination of probucol (1 g/day) and clofibrate (2 g/day), and who also had reduced HDL-C levels. Changes in plasma carnitine levels were found to correlate with clofibrate therapy and to be readily reversible with cessation of this drug. These increases of circulating carnitine were not accompanied by a rise in HDL-C.