The occurrence of a lipoxygenase pathway in reticulocytes of various species.

Reticulocytes from various species (rat, mouse, rhesus monkey) obtained by phenylhydrazine treatment of the animals metabolized polyenoic fatty acids via a lipoxygenase pathway. Linoleic acid was converted to 13-hydro(pero)xy-9,11(Z,E)octadecadienoic acid [13-H(P)ODE] and 9-hydro(pero)xy-10,12(E,Z)octadecadienoic acid [9-H(P)ODE], whereas arachidonic acid was oxygenated to 15-hydroxy-5,8,11,13(Z,Z,Z,E)eicosatetraenoic acid (15-HETE) as shown by straight-phase high-pressure liquid chromatography (SP-HPLC). Addition of calcium and ionophore A 23,187 strongly enhanced the formation of lipoxygenase products, whereas 5,8,11,14eicosatetraenoic acid (ETYA) completely inhibited their formation. Estimates of the specific radioactivities of the lipoxygenase products indicate differences in the metabolization of externally added and endogenously released polyenoic fatty acids. These results strongly suggest that lipoxygenases generally occur in immature red blood cells.