Brain gangliosides types

Changes in brain ganglioside expression have been documented in patients with Alzheimer s disease. Compared with control brains, patients with early onset (type I) Alzheimer s disease exhibited an increase in GD3 and GMl and a decrease in GDla and GTlb. Impaired ganglioside synthesis has also been noted with Huntington s disease. It has been suggested... 

Seybold, U., and Rahmann, H., 1985, Brain gangliosides with different types of postnatal development (nidifugous and nidicolous type), Dev. Brain Res. 17 201-208. 

Gangliosides have also been identified as constituents of egg yolk. These gangliosides have shorter carbohydrate chains than the major brain gangliosides, and are predominantly of the monosialo type (Keenan and Berridge, 1973). 

This problem was approached by incorporating radioactive percur-sors into the glycolipids of both brain and lymphoma cells of the Thy-1.2 and 1.1 types. We have used C-palmitate as a per-cursor of ceramide, and - C-N-acetylmannosamine as a percursor of sialic acid (7). Glycolipids were isolated and the radioactive gangliosides were resolved by two-dimensional thin layer chromatography in two different solvent systems followed by autoradiography. 

Some gangliosides of the globo series (Globo-H, sLcx hexasaccharyl ceramide, etc.) are useful cancer cell markers because they are elevated in the membranes of certain types of tumor cells such as melanomas and metastatic brain tumors. A number of GSLs play a role as tumor-associated carbohydrate antigens (TACAs)... 

P- N-Acetylhexosaminidase A (EC 3.2.1.30). In type B, the enzyme is absent. In type AB, the enzyme is present but an activator protein is absent. In type A B, the enzyme is present but defective. Gm2 accumulates intraneuronally in white and gray matter of the brain, with small quantities in spleen and liver. Clinical picture and prognosis similar to infantile form of Sandhoffs disease, with manifestation at 4-6 months (ganglioside accumulation begins in utero). 

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