Lipofuscin and ceroid formation: the cellular recycling system

Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology
D Harman

Abstract

Lipofuscin, age pigment, is a dark pigment with a strong autofluorescence seen with increasing frequency with advancing age in the cytoplasm of postmitotic cells. By bright-field light microscopy lipofuscin appears as irregular yellow to brown granules ranging in size from 1-2 nm in diameter. The fluorescent spectra of lipofuscin in situ generally show excitation maxima at about 360 nm and a yellowish emission maxima at 540-650 nm. Ultrastructurally the granules, localized in residual body-type lysosomes, are extremely heterogeneous and vary from one cell type to another, and frequently within a single cell. The pigment granules usually contain numerous liquid droplets embedded in an electron-dense matrix. The granules stain positively for neutral lipids but are not soluble in polar or non-polar lipid solvents. Lipofuscin contains about 50 percent by weight of proteinaceous substances, a lesser fraction of lipid-like material, and probably less than one percent by weight fluorophore(s); it is enriched in metals such as Al, Cu, and Fe, and in dolichols. Free radical reactions and the proteolytic system are implicated in lipopigment formation. Thus the rate of lipopigment formation is increased by vitamin E deficiency and by incr...Continue Reading

Citations

Nov 28, 2000·Hepatology : Official Journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases·R W Van Dyke
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