carnitine

English

Carnitine structure diagram

Etymology

From German Carnitin, coined from Latin carn- + Latin -i- +‎ -t- (“arbitrary insertion”) +‎ -in, for it was first described in meat extracts in 1905. By surface analysis, Latin carnit- +‎ -ine.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑː.nɪt.iːn/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑɹ.nəˌtiːn/

Noun

carnitine (countable and uncountable, plural carnitines)

1. (organic chemistry) A betaine, 3-hydroxy-4-trimethylammonio-butanoate, that is found in the liver and has a function in fatty acid transport.
   • 2007, Shari Lieberman, Nancy Pauling Bruning, The Real Vitamin and Mineral Book, 4th edition, unnumbered page:

     Although often called an amino acid because of its chemical makeup, L-carnitine is actually a vitaminlike nutrient, related in structure to the B vitamins. L-carnitine is the biologically active form of carnitine.

   • 2014, Peggy R. Borum, Carnitine homeostasis in humans, Benjamin Toby Wall, Craig Porter (editors), Carnitine Metabolism and Human Nutrition, page 4,

     Carnitine likely functions in maintaining homeostasis in many metabolic pathways and physiological conditions, with carnitine's role in energy metabolism homeostasis being the best studied.

   • 2015, Bruno Giammusso, “16: Dietary Complements and Phytotherapy”, in Giorgio Cavallini, Giovanni Beretta, editors, Clinical Management of Male Infertility, Springer, page 155:

     Carnitines are quaternary amines synthesized from the amino acids lysine and methionine.

Synonyms

• CAR (abbreviation)

Derived terms

• acetylcarnitine
• acylcarnitine
• CAR
• carnityl
• D-carnitine
• deoxycarnitine
• dextrocarnitine
• DL-carnitine
• L-carnitine
• levocarnitine
• octanoylcarnitine
• palmitoylcarnitine

Translations

an organic compound

• Esperanto: karnitino
• Italian: carnitina (it) f
• Japanese: カルニチン (karunichin)

References

• “carnitine”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• “carnitine”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Anagrams

• creatinin, incertain, natricine

Italian

Noun

carnitine f

1. plural of carnitina

Anagrams

• canterini, incarnite, incentrai, incitarne, incretina, incrinate, nericanti