The concentrations of phospholipids and galactolipids and their fatty acid compositions were determined in purified myelin from apparently normal white matter of 11 multiple sclerosis (MS) and 11 control brains. Myelin from MS brains showed a significant decrease in serine phosphatide and a slight decrease in the ethanolamine phosphatide fraction when compared with normal myelin; increases were found in the lysocholine and lysoethanolamine phosphoglycerides. In the galactolipids, lower figures were obtained for sulfatides, resulting in a higher cerebroside/sulfatide ratio for MS myelin. Analysis of the fatty acid pattern of phospholipids in MS brains revealed lower values for 18:1 and, except for the lyso compounds, slightly higher amounts for 20:4 and 22:6. Lower levels for the sum of 18:3 and 20:1 fatty acids were found for the EPG and IPG fractions.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

SUMMARY Brain ganglioside pattern was studied in one case of Tay‐Sachs’disease, two cases of Late Infantile Amaurotic Idiocy (L.I.A.I.) two cases of Juvenile Amaurotic Idiocy (J.A.I.), three cases of Gargoylism together with three normal adults and one 7‐year‐old normal child. Our findings in Tay‐Sachs’disease conformed with those reported by previous authors. In J.A.I. and L.I.A.I. the percentage distribution of N‐acetylneuraminic acid in individual gangliosides has been found to be similar to the normal. No evidence of storage of any single ganglioside has been found in L.I.A.I. All cases of gargoylism showed a clear‐cut increase of the two fastest monosialogangliosides. Literature concerning Amaurotic Idiocy and Gargoylism is reviewed and briefly discussed in connection with the present findings.