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Acyl-carnitine for the treatment and prevention of viral infections

halcyon

Senior Member
Messages
2,482
I came across this interesting patent application that suggests acetyl-l-carnitine (ALCAR) has potent anti-viral properties, at least in vitro:

Two trial series were conducted. In the first series, various cell lines of animal and human origin (African green monkey; human cervical cancer cells) were infected with various viruses, including HSV, types 1 and 2, CMV, Adenovirus, Varicella-Zoster virus (VZV), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), polio virus, Coxsackie virus, enterovirus and vaccinia virus.

Five cultures of each, which were infected with the above viruses, were treated with 100 mg/ml of L-acetyl-carnitine.HCl or control medium (no active substance).

The virus titers were determined at daily intervals for 12 days.

All the controls reacted positively to the viral growth with titers in the range between 104 and 108 colony-forming units (plaque forming units pfu) /ml, depending on the specific virus.

On the other hand, all the specimens treated with L-acetyl-carnitine.HCl were negative (0 pfu/ml), i.e., no viral propagation occurred.

In the second trial series, the action of the L-acetyl-carnitine dosage on the antiviral activity was determined.

Five cultures of each were infected and treated with 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 200 and 400 mg/ml of L-acetyl-carnitine.HCl or a control medium and the virus titers were determined as above.

The antiviral activity was observed in all dosages of more than 10-20 mg/ml. The antiviral activity was manifested either completely or not at all and presented no dose-dependent pattern.
 

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,824
That's very interesting; but unfortunately, if my calculation is correct, it would require an incredibly high dose of 420 grams of acetyl-L-carnitine (ALC) if you wanted it to work as a systemic antiviral for human use.

(The calculation is this: total fluid volume for a human is around 42 liters or 42,000 ml, so in order to get a ALC concentration of 10 mg per ml in the body, you would need to take a dose of 42,000 x 10 mg = 420,000 mg = 420 grams.)

This is approaching the LD50 values quoted in the patent, so that dose level would start to become toxic.


It strange that they found the antiviral effect of ALC either manifested completely, or not at all. This presumably means that smaller doses of ALC would be of no antiviral benefit at all; you would have to take the full dose to get the antiviral effects.

It is remarkable, though, that ALC completely inhibited the virus, with zero viruses found after the ALC treatment of cells.
 
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