Desaturation of eicosa‐11,14‐dienoic acid in human testes

The metabolism of [1‐14C]eicosa‐11,14‐dienoic acid was investigated in human testes using whole tissue minces and microsomal preparations. Both types of preparations catalyzed the desaturation of the labeled diene to eicosa‐8,11,14‐trienoic as well as eicosa‐5,11,14‐trienoic acid. The reported results, therefore, indicate that human testicular tissue, as well as rat testicular tissue (reported previously), is capable of utilizing eicosa‐11,14‐dienoic acid as a precursor of arachidonic acid. Since it is known that there is no Δ8 desaturase activity in rat liver and brain, these studies support the concept that there is a tissue variation in this enzymatic pathway.