Ganglioside membranes

Glycosphingolipids are constituents of the outer leaflet of plasma membranes and are important in cell adhesion and cell recognition. Some are antigens, eg, ABO blood group substances. Certain gangliosides function as receptors for bacterial toxins (eg, for cholera toxin, which subsequently activates adenylyl cyclase). 

The glycosphingolipids (GSLs) are sugar-containing lipids built on a backbone of ceramide they include galactosyl- and glucosylceramide (cerebrosides) and the gangliosides. Their structures are described in Chapter 14. They are mainly located in the plasma membranes of cells. 

Because membranes components participate in nearly every cell activity their structures are also dynamic and far from the equilibrium states that are most readily understood in biophysical terms. Newly synthesized bilayer lipids are initially associated with endoplasmic reticulum (Ch.3) whereas phospholipids initially insert into the cytoplasmic leaflet while cholesterol and sphingolipids insert into the luminal endoplasmic reticulum (ER) leaflet. Glycosylation of ceramides occurs as they transit the Golgi compartments, forming cerebrosides and gangliosides in the luminal leaflet. Thus, unlike model systems, the leaflets of ER membranes are asymmetric by virtue of their mode of biosynthesis. 

Bullens, R. W., O Hanlon, G. M., Wagner, E. etal. Complex gangliosides at the neuromuscular junction are membrane receptors for autoantibodies and botulinum neurotoxin but redundant for normal synaptic function. /. Neurosci. 22 6876-6884, 2002. 

Bondy SC, McKee M, Davoodbhoy YM. 1990a. Prevention of chemically induced changes in synaptosomal membrane order by ganglioside GMI and alpha-tocopherol. Biochim Biophys Acta... 

A. A. Wolf, M. G. Jobling, S. Wimer-Mackin, M. Ferguson-Maltzman, J. L. Madara, R. K. Holmes, and W. I. Lencer. Ganglioside structure dictates signal transduction by cholera toxin and association with caveolae-like membrane domains in polarized epithelia. J Cell Biol. 141 917-927 (1998). 

Gangliosides are a class of glycosphingolipid characterized by the presence of one or more sialic acid residues. They are located in the cell membranes, particularly in the plasma membrane, of almost all cell types. They are anchored in the membranes through their ceramide moiety and have the polar sugar-containing group in the extracytoplasmic side. They are particularly abundant in the nervous system where their expression pattern is modulated during development. 

Caveolae can mediate the delivery of CtxB that binds to GM1 ganglioside at the plasma membrane and is delivered to intracellular compartments. Cholera toxin, produced by Vibrio cholerae, consists of five identical subunits B and one A chain. In addition to labeled SV40 and caveolin-1-GFP, CtxB is one of the most commonly used caveolae markers. However, two groups reported that the toxin is internalized by either a clathrin-independent caveolae pathway or a clathrin-dependent uptake, bringing its selectivity/specificity into question (31,81,118). We controlled the suitability of this marker for COS-7 cells pretreated with CPZ, mpCD, and filipin and as expected, the uptake was not influenced by CPZ treatment but was strongly decreased by the latter two (data not shown). 

The clinical effects of chloroform toxicity on the central nervous system are well documented. However, the molecular mechanism of action is not well understood. It has been postulated that anesthetics induce their action at a cell-membrane level due to lipid solubility. The lipid-disordering effect of chloroform and other anesthetics on membrane lipids was increased by gangliosides (Harris and Groh 1985), which may explain why the outer leaflet of the lipid bilayer of neuronal membranes, which has a large ganglioside content, is unusually sensitive to anesthetic agents. Anesthetics may affect calcium-dependent potassium conductance in the central nervous system (Caldwell and Harris 1985). The blockage of potassium conductance by chloroform and other anesthetics resulted in depolarization of squid axon (Haydon et al. 1988). 

Harris RA, Groh GI. 1985. Membrane disordering effects of anesthetics are enhanced by gangliosides. Anesthesiology 62 115-119. 

The illustration shows a model of a small section of a membrane. The phospholipids are the most important group of membrane lipids. They include phosphatidylcholine (lecithin), phosphatidylethanolamine, phos-phatidylserine, phosphatidylinositol, and sphingomyelin (for their structures, see p. 50). in addition, membranes in animal cells also contain cholesterol (with the exception of inner mitochondrial membranes). Clycoli-pids (a ganglioside is shown here) are mainly found on the outside of the plasma membrane. Together with the glycoproteins, they form the exterior coating of the cell (the gly-cocalyx). 

Included among drugs that alter the permeability of the membrane are phosphatidylserine, S-adenosylmethionine, and ganglioside extracts. Phosphatidylserine, produced from purified extracts of bovine brain cortex, alters the permeability and functionality of the neuronal membrane. A study... 

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