Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, Vol 53, Issue 2 B87-B93, Copyright © 1998 by The Gerontological Society of America

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Age-dependent accumulation of dolichol in rat liver: is tissue dolichol a biomarker of aging?

M Marino, C Dolfi, C Paradiso, G Cavallini, M Masini, Z Gori, M Pollera, A Trentalance and E Bergamini
Dipartimento di Biologia, III Universita di Rome, Italy.

Dolichols are long hydrophobic molecules broadly distributed in all tissues and cellular membranes of eukariotic cells. Dolichol affects membrane structure and fluidity, membrane-associated protein activities, and membrane sensitivity to oxidative stress. Reports have shown that dolichols exhibit a remarkable (6- to 30-fold) age-related increase in the tissues of adult and mature rats and of old flies, mice, and humans. In our longitudinal study, the age-related accumulation of dolichol was monitored in the liver tissue of male Sprague Dawley rats fed ad libitum up to age of 27 months. In addition 24-month-old rats subjected to different regimens of anti-aging diet restriction (40% calorie restriction or every-other-day feeding ad libitum) were tested. A parallel study of the accumulation of carbonyl in liver protein (a proposed biomarker of aging) was made. In addition, the age-related decline of liver autophagy/proteolysis was studied in isolated liver cells, in view of the essential role of this function in liver membrane maintenance. Results show that an age-dependent accumulation of dolichol can be observed in the liver of the rats fed ad libitum but not in the liver of 24-month-old food-restricted rats, that accumulation of dolichol precedes the accumulation of altered liver proteins, and that dolichol accumulation is accompanied by a decline in liver autophagy. It is concluded that dolichol accumulation satisfies the proposed primary and secondary applicable criteria and the desirable features required to be qualified as a biomarker of aging.

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