HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Sima, A. A.F. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Sima, A. A.F. Social Bookmarking                What's this?

Acetyl-L-Carnitine Improves Pain, Nerve Regeneration, and Vibratory Perception in Patients With Chronic Diabetic Neuropathy

An analysis of two randomized placebo-controlled trials

¹ Departments of Pathology and Neurology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI
² Sigma-Tau spA, Pomezia, Rome, Italy
³ Medifacts International, Rockville, MD
⁴ Sigma-Tau Research, Gaithersburg, MD

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. A.A.F. Sima, Department of Pathology, Wayne State University School of Medicine, 540 E. Canfield Ave., Detroit, MI 48201. E-mail: asima{at}med.wayne.edu

OBJECTIVE—We evaluated frozen databases from two 52-week randomized placebo-controlled clinical diabetic neuropathy trials testing two doses of acetyl-L-carnitine (ALC): 500 and 1,000 mg/day t.i.d.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—Intention-to-treat patients amounted to 1,257 or 93% of enrolled patients. Efficacy end points were sural nerve morphometry, nerve conduction velocities, vibration perception thresholds, clinical symptom scores, and a visual analogue scale for most bothersome symptom, most notably pain. The two studies were evaluated separately and combined.

RESULTS—Data showed significant improvements in sural nerve fiber numbers and regenerating nerve fiber clusters. Nerve conduction velocities and amplitudes did not improve, whereas vibration perception improved in both studies. Pain as the most bothersome symptom showed significant improvement in one study and in the combined cohort taking 1,000 mg ALC.

CONCLUSIONS—These studies demonstrate that ALC treatment is efficacious in alleviating symptoms, particularly pain, and improves nerve fiber regeneration and vibration perception in patients with established diabetic neuropathy.

Abbreviations: ALC, acetyl-L-carnitine • ARI, aldose reductase inhibitor • DPN, diabetic polyneuropathy • NCV, nerve conduction velocity • UCES, U.S.-Canadian-European Study • UCS, U.S.-Canadian Study

CiteULike    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. C. Cave, R. T. Hurt, T. H. Frazier, P. J. Matheson, R. N. Garrison, C. J. McClain, and S. A. McClave Obesity, Inflammation, and the Potential Application of Pharmaconutrition Nutr Clin Pract, February 1, 2008; 23(1): 16 - 34. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				N. W. Milgram, J. A. Araujo, T. M. Hagen, B. V. Treadwell, and B. N. Ames Acetyl-L-carnitine and {alpha}-lipoic acid supplementation of aged beagle dogs improves learning in two landmark discrimination tests FASEB J, November 1, 2007; 21(13): 3756 - 3762. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. D Garely, V. Lucente, J. Vapnek, and N. Smith Solifenacin for Overactive Bladder with Incontinence: Symptom Bother and Health-Related Quality of Life Outcomes Ann. Pharmacother., March 1, 2007; 41(3): 391 - 398. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				C Lebrun, H Alchaar, M Candito, V Bourg, and M Chatel Levocarnitine administration in multiple sclerosis patients with immunosuppressive therapy-induced fatigue Multiple Sclerosis, June 1, 2006; 12(3): 321 - 324. [Abstract] [PDF]