What is carnitine and its function?
L carnitine is an extremely important nutrient which makes the digestion of certain fats possible.
Carnitine shuttles FFAs into the mitochondri for beta-oxidation. FFAs are activated by combining with CoA to from acyl CoA. Carnitine acyltransferase I, located on the outer mitochondrial membrane, transfers the FFA from acyl CoA to carnitine, forming acyl carnitine. The acyl carnitine is then transolcated across the mitochondrial membrane into the matrix in exchange for carnitine. Carnitine acyltransferase II transfers the FFA back from the acyl carnitine to CoA, regenerating acyl CoA and carnitine.
