THE STRUCTURE OF BRAIN POLYISOPRENOLS

1471-4159

Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005

Medicine

Abstract— Long-chain polyisoprenols were isolated from brain in yields of 10-15 mg/kg tissue wet weight. On thin-layer chromatography, migrations were identical for brain polyisoprenols and pig liver dolichol which had been isolated as reference material. The IR, 1H NMR and 13C (FT) NMR spectra of calf brain polyisoprenols were consistent with a molecular structure which had a saturated isoprenol unit followed by approximately 19 unsaturated isoprene units. About 3-4 isoprene units possessed trans double bonds. Using reversed phase thin-layer chromatography and pig liver dolichol as a reference, it was estimated that calf brain polyisoprenols had major structures of C95, C100 and C105 while rat brain polyisoprenols contained C90 and C95 as the major components. All data indicated that the brain polyisoprenols were very similar, chemically, to pig liver dolichols except for minor differences in molecular weight.

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