Chicken gangliosides

Among the gangliosides, GM4 [ct-NeuAc-(2 — 3)-/ -Gal-(l — 0)-Cer] has a relatively simple chemical structure. It has been detected in human and chicken brain and also (119) as a major ganglioside of mouse erythrocytes, chicken-embryonic liver, and egg yolk. With the help of the azidosphingo-sine glycosylation it has been synthesized very efficiently from the neuraminic acid-containing galactosyl donor 11a-/ (Table XI) (120-122). Similarly the thio isomer was obtained from lib-/ and (120,123) the positional isomer from llc-a. 

Sialosyllactosylceramide (GM3) is one of the major gangliosicles found in visceral organs. However, in the central nervous system, the concentration of this ganglioside is so low that it can only be considered to be the precursor for various complex gangliosides. A sialosyl-transferase that catalyzes the transfer of sialic acid from CMP-NeuAc to lactosylceramide was first described in the embryonic chicken-brain by Basu107 and Kaufman and coworkers,108 and in the brain of... 

The results presented here show that the glycosphingolipids of chicken pectoral muscle differ from those of human skeletal and cardiac muscles. In addition, we are presenting the structures of two glucosamine-containing gangliosides which were characterized by enzymatic hydrolysis and methylation studies. 

Fractions of 6 ml volume were collected and 50 yl aliquots used to identify the gangliosides by TLC. Four gangliosides have been purified from fraction I of chicken skeletal muscle directly from the column. 

Comparison of glycosphingolipids from human and chicken skeletal muscle. The elution of gangliosides from DEAE-Sephadex A 50 column with these 0.01, 0.02 and 0.2 M sodium acetate concentrations separated the gangliosides into mono-, di- and poly-sialo- fractions. The gangliosides of human muscle are shown in Fig. 1A. The monosialogangliosides GM3, GM2 and GM1 were eluted with 0.01 M sodium acetate in methanol (lane 2), GD3 and GDla with the 0.02 M solvent (lane 4) and others with 0.2 M acetate... 

Figure 1A. Thin-layer chromatogram of human and chicken muscle ganglioside fractions eluted from DEAE-A 50 column...

Lane 1, standard gangliosides from human brain. Lanes 2 and 3, gangUosides eluted by 0.0/M, lanes 4 and 5 by 0.02M, and lanes 6 and 7 by 0.2M sodium acetate in methanol. Lanes 2, 4, and 6 from human muscle lanes 3, 5, and 7 from chicken muscle. Solvent system C M 0.25% CaCle (60 40 9)... 

Axonally transplanted gangliosides from retina were more highly labelled in the optic tectum of chicken exposed to light compared to those maintained in the dark. There was no difference in the labelling of retinal gangliosides between the two groups. 

Palestini, P, Sonnino, S.,Tettamanti, G. (1991) Lack of the ganglioside molecular species containing the C20-long-chain bases in hnman, rat, monse, rabbit, cat, dog, and chicken brains dnring prenatal life. Journal of Neurochemistry, 56,2048-2050. 

Table 6. Effect of colchicine on the labeling "in vivo and "in vitro of gangliosides from the visual system of the chicken...

Figure 2. N-3H-acetylmannosamine was injected into the left eye of chickens and the radioactivity of ganglioside and TCA soluble substances was measured in the contralateral and ipsilateral tectum.

Rats and chickens maintained in the dark for several days were injected with b- H-glucosamine and divided in 2 groups one remained in the dark while the other was exposed to 1000 lux. Rats were exposed to illumination for 1 h chickens for 2 h. Then animals were killed and the nervous tissue fractionated according to Eichberg et al. (1964). Gangliosides and sialic acid determinations as described previously. (Maccioni et al., 1971 Maccioni A. H. R. et al., 1974). p was calculated by Student s test for correlated data. Values for animals in the dark were taken as 100%. 

Chickens maintained in the dark for 2 days were exposed to 1000 lux previous subcutaneous injection of 6-3h glucosamine while others remained in the dark. For the experiments with chickens with one eye occluded, they had one eye covered with black tape while the other eye was exposed to light, previous injection of the radiochemical. Retinal gangliosides were obtained by the TCA-PTA (trichloroacetic acid - phosphotungstic acid) method (Maccioni et al., 1974). Statistical analysis as in Table 1. Values for retinas in light were considered 100%. 

The structure of a novel L-fucose-containing ganglioside from pig cerebellum has been established (2). 9-O-Acetyl-A-acetylneuraminic acid accounts for up to 20% of the brain ganglioside fractions from man, cow, horse, pig, sheep, cat, rabbit, rat, chicken, and codfish. In the pig and cow, traces of the A-glycolyl derivative were also found. The novel trisialoganglioside, Giia (3), has been isolated and characterized and is responsible for 0.6% of the total ganglioside fraction of human brain. ... 

The ganglioside Gds caused crenation in chicken erythrocytes followed by the appearance of rounded and oddly shaped erythrocytes that were pinched... 

Basu, S., and B. Kaufman Ganglioside synthesis in embryonic chicken brain. Fed. Proc. 24, 479 (1965). 

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