ALCAR je acetilisani derivat L-karnitina. Tokom napornog vežbanja, veliki deo L-karnitina i neiskorišćenog acetil-CoA se konvertuje do ALCAR i CoA unutar mitohondrija posredstvom karnitin O-acetiltransferaze.[5] ALCAR se transportuje izvan mitohondrija gde se konvertuje u dva konstituenta. L-karnitin se reciklira nazad u mitohondrije gde se koristi u metabolizmu masnih kiselina.[6][7] Višak acetil-CoA ima za posledicu da se ugljeni hidrati u većoj meri koriste za energiju tokom vežbanja nego masne kiseline. Do toga dolazi putem različitih mehanizama unutar i izvan mitohondrija. ALCAR transport umanjuje koncentraciju acetil-CoA unutar mitohondrija.[8][9] Glukozni metabolizam se povećava administracijom bilo ALCAR[10] ili L-karnitina.[11] Deo L-karnitina se konvertuje kod ljudi u ALCAR nakon unosa hrane.[12]
↑Evan E. Bolton, Yanli Wang, Paul A. Thiessen, Stephen H. Bryant (2008). „Chapter 12 PubChem: Integrated Platform of Small Molecules and Biological Activities”. Annual Reports in Computational Chemistry4: 217-241. DOI:10.1016/S1574-1400(08)00012-1.
↑Gaulton A, Bellis LJ, Bento AP, Chambers J, Davies M, Hersey A, Light Y, McGlinchey S, Michalovich D, Al-Lazikani B, Overington JP. (2012). „ChEMBL: a large-scale bioactivity database for drug discovery”. Nucleic Acids Res40 (Database issue): D1100-7. DOI:10.1093/nar/gkr777. PMID21948594.edit
↑Zeyner A, Harmeyer J (1999). „Metabolic functions of L-carnitine and its effects as feed additive in horses. A review”. Archiv Für Tierernährung52 (2): 115–38. PMID10548966.
↑Kiens B (January 2006). „Skeletal muscle lipid metabolism in exercise and insulin resistance”. Physiological Reviews86 (1): 205–43. DOI:10.1152/physrev.00023.2004. PMID16371598.
↑Lopaschuk GD, Gamble J (October 1994). „The 1993 Merck Frosst Award. Acetyl-CoA carboxylase: an important regulator of fatty acid oxidation in the heart”. Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology72 (10): 1101–9. PMID7882173.
↑Giancaterini A, De Gaetano A, Mingrone G, et al. (June 2000). „Acetyl-L-carnitine infusion increases glucose disposal in type 2 diabetic patients”. Metabolism: Clinical and Experimental49 (6): 704–8. DOI:10.1053/meta.2000.6250. PMID10877193.
↑Cao Y, Wang YX, Liu CJ, Wang LX, Han ZW, Wang CB (2009). „Comparison of pharmacokinetics of L-carnitine, acetyl-L-carnitine and propionyl-L-carnitine after single oral administration of L-carnitine in healthy volunteers”. Clinical and Investigative Medicine32 (1): E13–9. PMID19178874.