Different tissue concentrations and rates of synthesis of dolichol, dolichyl acyl esters, and dolichyl phosphate in mouse testes and preputial glands.

The rates of synthesis and tissue concentrations of dolichol derivatives differ markedly in testes and preputial glands from adult C57BL/6J mice. In testes, the rates of free dolichol, dolichyl acyl esters, and dolichyl phosphate synthesis were approximately 5,000, 4,000 and 2,000 dpm/3h/g, respectively. Comparable rates for preputial glands were 12,000, 60,000 and 0 dpm/3h/g. Thus in testes, dolichyl phosphate represented 15-20% of total dolichol synthesis, whereas no de novo dolichyl phosphate synthesis was detected in preputial glands. In testes, free dolichol was the predominant derivative synthesized; in preputial glands, 80% of dolichol synthesized was esterified to fatty acids. The concentration of total dolichol (free alcohol plus acyl esters) was 160 micrograms/g tissue in testes and 1270 micrograms/g tissue in preputial glands. In both tissues, 85-90% of dolichol was esterified to fatty acids, and no dolichyl phosphate was detected.