{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T10:18:24Z","timestamp":1785406704981,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":20,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"14","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,14]],"date-time":"2026-07-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1783987200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100011611","name":"Shinshu Public Utility Foundation for Promotion of Medical Sciences","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100011611","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100009619","name":"Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["JP23fk0210125"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["JP23fk0210125"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100009619","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100009619","name":"Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["JP256f0137007"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["JP256f0137007"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100009619","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100009619","name":"Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["JP26fk0210190"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["JP26fk0210190"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100009619","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"award":["JP23fk0210125"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["JP23fk0210125"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/004rtk039","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["JP256f0137007"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["JP256f0137007"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/004rtk039","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["JP26fk0210190"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["JP26fk0210190"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/004rtk039","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Pemafibrate (PEM), a novel selective peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor \u03b1 modulator, is widely used to treat dyslipidemia, yet its systemic metabolic effects remain incompletely defined. We performed untargeted serum metabolomics in patients with hypertriglyceridemia at baseline and at 2 and 8 weeks after PEM treatment. PEM increased cystine, L-methionine, uridine, and L-carnitine, while decreasing lipid-related metabolites, including lysophosphatidylcholines, adenosine, and erucic acid (22:1). Circulating carnitine levels rose progressively, with a significant elevation at 8 weeks, whereas ketone bodies showed only modest, non-significant increases. Consistently, increases in circulating and tissue carnitine were also observed in male 8-week-old C57BL\/6J mice treated with a clinically relevant dose of PEM for 2 weeks. Mechanistically, PEM did not significantly alter genes involved in carnitine biosynthesis or transport, but upregulated hepatic carnitine O-acetyltransferase and carnitine O-octanoyltransferase, key enzymes of carnitine utilization and turnover. Collectively, these findings suggest that enhanced carnitine metabolism represents an important metabolic axis of PEM action.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms27146252","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,14]],"date-time":"2026-07-14T10:12:53Z","timestamp":1784023973000},"page":"6252","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Serum Metabolomics Reveals Carnitine Metabolism as a Possible Central Metabolic Axis of Pemafibrate Action"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"27","author":[{"given":"Chufang","family":"Qian","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Global Medical Research Promotion, Shinshu University Graduate School of Medicine, Matsumoto 390-8621, Japan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xuguang","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Global Medical Research Promotion, Shinshu University Graduate School of Medicine, Matsumoto 390-8621, Japan"},{"name":"Department of Clinical Laboratory, The Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang 050000, China"},{"name":"Postdoctoral Mobile Station of Clinical Medicine, Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang 050017, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhe","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Global Medical Research Promotion, Shinshu University Graduate School of Medicine, Matsumoto 390-8621, Japan"},{"name":"Department of Gastroenterology, University-Town Hospital, The Fourth Clinical College of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 401331, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2671-1217","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kazuhiro","family":"Tanabe","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Medical Solution Promotion Department, Medical Solution Segment, LSI Medience 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Medical University, Shijiazhuang 050017, China"},{"name":"Department of Traditional and Western Medical Hepatology, Hebei Medical University Third Hospital, Shijiazhuang 050061, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0005-9982-9947","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jiali","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Global Medical Research Promotion, Shinshu University Graduate School of Medicine, Matsumoto 390-8621, Japan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sakura","family":"Yuki","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Global Medical Research Promotion, Shinshu University Graduate School of Medicine, Matsumoto 390-8621, Japan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiyue","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Global Medical Research Promotion, Shinshu University Graduate School of Medicine, Matsumoto 390-8621, Japan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yifan","family":"Diao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Global Medical Research Promotion, Shinshu University Graduate School of Medicine, Matsumoto 390-8621, Japan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2678-788X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Takero","family":"Nakajima","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Global Medical Research Promotion, Shinshu University Graduate School of Medicine, Matsumoto 390-8621, Japan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0430-6819","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Takanobu","family":"Iwadare","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Gastroenterology, Shinshu University School of Medicine, Matsumoto 390-8621, 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