Features of carnitine metabolism in young athletes

Objective: to study the indicators of carnitine metabolism in young athletes of various specializations.Materials and methods: This study involved 46 people with different levels of physical activity aged 15 to 18 years. The first group consisted of 18 girls professionally involved in field hockey (mean age, 16.17 ± 0.31 years). The second group included 21 swimmers (10 girls and 11 boys, mean age 17.00 ± 0.26 years). The control group included 7 young men with a standard mode of motor activity, not involved in sports (the age of the subjects was 16 years). In the course of the study, the method of liquid tandem chromatography-mass spectrometry with ionization in an electrospray was used. The material for research is capillary blood. As a result of the analysis of the material, the concentrations of bound carnitine (acylcarnitines) and free carnitine were determined in µmol/l.Results: Comparative blood analysis between the three groups showed differences in free carnitine levels. It was shown that the concentration of free carnitine in the blood plasma of field hockey athletes was significantly lower than in the groups of swimmers and non-athletes (p < 0.001). At the same time, the values of indicators of bound carnitine did not differ significantly between all subjects. We also studied that the values of the carnitine coefficient were significantly higher in the group of hockey players compared to other groups (p < 0.001).Conclusion: The decrease in free carnitine levels in the group of hockey players is probably the result of long-term adaptation of the body to conditions in which glucose is the main energy substrate for working muscles. Further studies are needed to clarify the exact mechanisms of development of this phenomenon.