Detecting Hepatic Flexibility in patients with Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) using 1H Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

This study investigated serum carnitine species and in-vivo hepatic acetylcarnitine levels as measured with MRS in healthy volunteers, and patients with low-risk NAFLD and high-risk NAFLD. L-carnitine facilitates transport of fatty acids into the mitochondria. We show that a single injection of L-carnitine modulated acetylcarnitine levels in the liver in healthy volunteers and low-risk NAFLD, but that this mechanism was blunted in the high-risk NAFLD group. This was accompanied by changed serum medium-chain and long-chain carnitine species, but only in the high-risk NAFLD group. Further studies are needed to understand the plasma and hepatic metabolic changes of carnitine species.