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Cationic Glycosphingolipids in Neuronal Tissues and Their Possible Biological Significance

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Abstract

During the course of studies on natural occurrence of sphingosine base in brain, cationic glycosphingolipids bound to carboxymethyl-Sephadex and eluted with triethylamine in organic solvents were isolated and characterized. Four classes of compounds were identified: (i) plasmalopsychosine-A and -B; (ii) glyceroplasmalopsychosine; (iii) glycosphingolipids having de-N-acetyl-hexosamine, e.g., de-N-acetyl-Lc3Cer; (iv) glycosylsphingosine, i.e., lysoglycosphingolipid. Only two kinds, galactosylsphingosine (psychosine) and lactosylsphingosine, were found to occur naturally in brain. All these compounds were isolated from extract of brain white matter. Their occurrence, quantity, and distribution pattern differ from one species to another. Their quantity is much lower than that of regular acidic and neutral glycosphingolipids. They may interact with regular glycosphingolipids in glycosphingolipid-enriched microdomains to elicit signal transduction, to modify cellular phenotype, although studies along this line are highly limited at this time.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Biomembrane Research, Pacific Northwest Research Institute, Seattle, WA, 98122-4327

    Toshiyuki Hikita & Senitiroh Hakomori

  2. Department of Pathobiology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, 98195-7238

    Toshiyuki Hikita & Senitiroh Hakomori

  3. Department of Biochemistry, Teikyo University School of Medicine, Tokyo, 173-8605, Japan

    Keiko Tadano-Aritomi, Naoko Iida-Tanaka & Ineo Ishizuka

  4. Department of Chemistry, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire, 03824-3598

    Steven B. Levery

Authors
  1. Toshiyuki Hikita
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  2. Keiko Tadano-Aritomi
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  3. Naoko Iida-Tanaka
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  4. Steven B. Levery
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  5. Ineo Ishizuka
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  6. Senitiroh Hakomori
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Hikita, T., Tadano-Aritomi, K., Iida-Tanaka, N. et al. Cationic Glycosphingolipids in Neuronal Tissues and Their Possible Biological Significance. Neurochem Res 27, 575–581 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020259630034

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