Strenuous physical activity, aspirin and heat stress increase urinary dolichols: evidence for lysosomal origin of urinary dolichols

Abstract Strenuous physical activity, aspirin and heat stress (Finnish sauna) were all found to significantly increase urinary dolichol excretion. In contrast, serum dolichol concentration studied before and after aspirin and sauna, was not affected. A similar aspirin-induced increase, as seen in urinary dolichol concentration, was also observed in the urinary excretion of two lysosomal enzymes — β-hexosaminidase and β-glucuronidase. In contrast, the excretion of two non-lysosomal enzymes — lactate dehydrogenase and leucine aminopeptidase — was not affected. The lack of correlation between serum and urinary dolichols, and the parallel increase in urinary dolichols and the activities of the lysosomal enzymes suggest that urinary dolichols may be derived from the lysosomes of the renal cells. We conclude that the finding of increased urinary dolichol concentrations in some relatively common conditions limits the clinical use of urinary dolichols as a diagnostic tool in neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis or alcoholism.