Glycosphingolipids cerebrosides

Starfishes and sea cucumbers also contain glycosphingolipids (cerebrosides and gangliosides) that have a wide range of biological activities, presumably related to the amphipathic nature of these molecules [7, 8]. 

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. 

Cerebrosides are major constituents of the membrane of brain cells. They are the simplest glycosphingolipids, serving as model substances for more complex lipids of this kind. Furthermore, they are credited with important properties as receptors for hormones and toxins.29 Schemes 4 13 and 4 14 provide a method for preparing sphingosine and its analogs that can be used for the synthesis of cerebroside compounds. 

The major landmarks in the field of glycosphingolipids are the discoveries of cerebroside by Thudichum1 in 1884, of ganglioside by Klenk2 in 1935, of hematoside by Yamakawa and Suzuki3 in 1951, and... 

Other glycolipids from aquatic invertebrates are also characterized by a great variety of structures. Along with compounds known also to be present in vertebrates (gluco- and galacto-cerebrosides and lactosylceramide), new glycosphingolipids have been detected that differ from the glycosphin-... 

In addition to the cerebrosides, which contain only one carbohydrate residue, there are other glycosphingolipids in mammalian cells that contain more than one sugar component. These oligosaccharide derivatives are called globosides. For example, lactosyl ceramide (1-O-lactosyl-A acylsphingosine) is a constituent of the erythrocyte membrane. Ceramide trihexoside accumulates in the kidneys of patients with Fabry s disease, due to the lack of a lysosomal a-galactosidase A activity. 

Kawano Y, Higuchi R, Isobe R (1988) Biologically active glycosides from aster-oidea, XIII. Glycosphingolipids from the starfish Acanthasterplanci, 2. Isolation and structure of six new cerebrosides. T Komori Liebigs Ann Chem 1988 19... 

Glycosphingolipids or cerebrosides, which are ceramides with the terminal hydroxyl linked by a glycosidic bond to a sugar moiety, can be handled by MS and GC-MS [285]. Among the sources of glycosphingolipids, characterised with the help of MS, are the membranes of human erythrocytes [300], CSF [301] and from the pancreas of a patient with Fabry s disease [302]. 

Sphingoglycolipid Glycosphingolipid Ceramide Sphingosine Dihydrosphingosine Phytoshingosine Sialic acid Glycosylation Sialylation DSLe Cerebroside Plakoside... 

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