Dolichol in Human Brain: Regional and Developmental Aspects

Abstract

Distinct regional differences in dolichol content were defined in human brain from 15-76 yr of age. Concerning the regional distribution of dolichol, levels were higher in cortical gray matter than in subcortical white matter, highest among cortical regions in temporal gray matter, highest among all brain regions in thalamus and lowest among all brain regions in lower brain stem and spinal cord. The developmental changes in the contents of dolichol were different among brain regions. For example, among regions with the highest levels of dolichol, in thalamus there was 7-fold increase, but in parietal gray matter, only a 2.5-fold increase. Regional and developmental changes in the proportions of the individual molecular species (isoprenologues) of dolichol were also observed. Evidently, the metabolism of dolichol is not uniform among regions of developing and aging human brain and may have implications for the role of dolichol in normal and diseased human brain.