title: Ageing and oxidative stress: a role for dolichol in the antioxidant machinery of cell membranes?
abstract: Dolichol is a polyprenol compound broadly distributed in membranes, biosynthetized by the general isoprenoid pathway from acetate via mevalonate and farnesyl pyrophosphate. Dolichol lays inside the membrane between the two leaflets of the lipid bilayer very close to the tail of phospholipid fatty acids. No definite catabolic pathways for this molecule have yet been identified. Evidence is produced that dolichol levels increase dramatically with increasing age; that anti-ageing caloric restriction retards this age-associated change; that dolichol may act as a radical scavenger of peroxidized lipids belonging to the cell membranes. In view of the polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), dolichol and Vitamin E location and stechiometry, it is proposed that molecules might interact each-other to form a highly matched free-radical-transfer chain, whose malfunctioning might be involved in statin toxicity and neurodegenerative diseases.
authors.affiliation: Centro di Ricerca di Biologia e Patologia dell'Invecchiamento, Pisa, Italy. ebergami@ipg.med.unipi.it
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bergamini
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bizzarri
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cavallini
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cerbai
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Chiellini
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Donati
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Gori
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Manfrini
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Parentini
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Signori
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Tamburini
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000502:physiology*; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism; D004286:Dolichols / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000502:physiology*; D002149:Energy Intake; D016166:Free Radical Scavengers / Q000494:pharmacology; D015227:Lipid Peroxidation / Q000187:drug effects; D018384:Oxidative Stress / Q000187:drug effects*; D051381:Rats; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D004286:Dolichols; D016166:Free Radical Scavengers