Lactic acidosis in long-chain fatty acid β-oxidation disorders

Among the many disorders of fatty acid beta-oxidation known today, the disorders of long-chain fatty acid oxidation are the most severe and life-threatening. One remarkable abnormality, not observed in, for instance, medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency, is the moderate to severe lactic acidaemia in long-chain fatty acid beta-oxidation-deficient patients, suggesting that oxidation of pyruvate is also compromised. In order to understand the underlying basis of the lactic acidaemia in these patients, we have studied the formation of L-lactate and pyruvate in cultured skin fibroblasts incubated with D-glucose. All long-chain fatty acid beta-oxidation-deficient cell lines studied were found to show a moderate elevation of lactate when compared with control and medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase-deficient fibroblasts. Interestingly, differences were found between cells deficient in long-chain 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase and very-long-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase, suggesting that saturated acyl-CoA esters and their 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA derivatives affect pyruvate metabolism differently.