The "carnitine system": recent aspects.

Carnitine is one of the most widely occurring constituents of biological systems in living beings (1,2): “a vitamin for an insect, vital for men” (2). Carnitine is the factor necessary for the transport of fatty acids into the mitochondria where they are completely oxidized to CO2 and H2O with energy production. In all its functions carnitine operates in tandem with coenzyme A, so as creatine does with ATP: “CoA regulator”. Indeed under a variety of conditions, e. g. in hypoxia, carnitine is necessary for the maintenance of the minimum requirement of free CoA.