Plasma carnitine compartment and red blood cell carnitine compartment of healthy adults.

Carnitine is needed for a variety of important physiological functions in energy metabolism. Assessment of the carnitine status of an individual is compromised by limited data on the number of metabolic compartments of carnitine and their interrelationship, if any. Possible compartmentalization of carnitine in the blood of healthy adults was investigated because blood is one of the more readily available samples for the assessment of carnitine status. The data suggest that blood carnitine is partitioned into a plasma carnitine compartment and a red blood cell carnitine compartment, compartments that are separate and distinct metabolic compartments.