Changes in murine tissue concentrations of dolichol and dolichol derivatives associated with age

The concentrations of the three major cellular forms of dolichol (free, esterified and phosphorylated) were determined in murine liver, kidney and heart. The tissue levels of these forms of dolichol were studied in detail as a function of age. Changes in the activities of dolichyl phosphate phosphatase and dolichol kinase were also determined. In liver, the concentration of unesterified dolichol, fatty acyl dolichol and dolichyl phosphate increased markedly over a period of 6 to 25 months (four-fold, 5.5-fold and nine-fold, respectively). In kidney only, free dolichol and phosphorylated dolichol increased (approximately four-fold in each case). However, this tissue consistently showed the highest concentrations of all forms of dolichol as compared to liver and heart. In heart, both free and esterified dolichol concentrations increased (approximately 3.25-fold in each case); dolichyl phosphate levels were not determined in this tissue. In all tissues studied, the activity of the dolichyl phosphate phosphatase enzyme was considerably higher than that of the dolichol kinase enzyme. In liver, there was no evidence to suggest that either enzyme was critical in determining the relative concentrations of dolichol and dolichyl phosphate. Evidence for such a role for the kinase in the kidney was stronger. Treatment of aging mice with meclofenoxate, a drug that is reported to cause dissolution of lipofuscin, failed to prevent accumulation of dolichol and dolichyl phosphate with age. These observations suggest that not all accumulated dolichol is associated with lipofuscin. Meclofenoxate treatment had no consistent effect on the activities of the enzymes studied.