Composition and Metabolism of Gangliosides in Rat Peripheral Nervous System During Development

Abstract

Ganglioside composition of rat trigeminal nerve was studied during development in order to understand the changes that occur as a result of cellular differentiation in the nerve. The ganglioside composition of the trigeminal nerve was entirely different from that of brain. The major gangliosides in adult trigeminal nerve were GM3, GD3, and LM1 (sialosyl‐lactoneotetraosylceramide or sialosylparagloboside). The structure of LM1 and other gangliosides was established by enzymatic degradation and by analysis of the products of acid hydrolysis. At 2 days after birth, when the Schwann cells were immature, GM3 and GD3 were the major gangliosides in the nerve, 50 and 18 mol %, respectively. As the nerve developed and Schwann cells proliferated and myelinated the axons, the mol % of GM3 and GD3 reduced and that of LM1 steadily increased. Polysialogangliosides did not change drastically with nerve development. The rate of deposition of LM1 in the nerve with age was very similar to that of myelin marker lipids, cerebrosides, and sulfatides; thus, deposition appears to be localized mainly in the rat nerve myelin. LM1 also had long‐chain fatty acids 22:0 and 24:0, which are not usually found in CNS gangliosides. The ganglioside pattern of the rat trigeminal nerve was very similar to that of rat sciatic nerve, but was different from that of rabbit and chicken sciatic nerve. The activity of the two key enzymes involved in the metabolism of GM3, viz., CMP‐N‐acetylneuraminic acid:lactosylceramide sialyltransferase and UDP‐N‐acetylgalactosamine:GM3‐N‐acetylgalactosaminyltransferase, was also studied during development of the nerve and brain. The developmental profiles of both enzymes were consistent with the amounts of GM3 present in the nerve.

Developmental Expression of HNK‐1‐Reactive Antigens in Rat Cerebral Cortex and Molecular Heterogeneity of Sulfoglucuronylneolactotetraosylceramide in CNS Versus PNS

“…Both SGGLs from CNS were susceptible to @-glucuronidase, after removal of the sulfate by acid methanolysis, a result indicating a terminal GlcA residue. The presence of very-long-chain fatty acids in gangliosides GM3, GD3, GD 1 a, and LM 1 of PNS has been previously reported (Chou et al, 1982). 2).…”

IgM in a human neuropathy related to paraproteinemia binds to a carbohydrate determinant in the myelin-associated glycoprotein and to a ganglioside.

“…Because it chromatographs slower than GM1 but faster than GD1a, it is probably a mono-or disialo-ganglioside. It is apparently not LM1, a glucosaminecontaining ganglioside of the lacto series, which has been shown to be a major component of peripheral nerve gangliosides (36)(37)(38) (40,41).…”

GT3 and its O-acetylated derivative are the principal A2B5-reactive gangliosides in cultured O2A lineage cells and are down-regulated along with O-acetyl GD3 during differentiation to oligodendrocytes

“…Figure 2 shows the distribution of the reactive antigens after separation of total cellular gangliosides from the O2A line into mono-, di-, and polysialoganglioside fractions by anion exchange chromatography (Chou et al, 1982). Orcinol staining of the fractions showed that the GD3, most of which was in the disialo fraction as expected, was the most abundant ganglioside in this progenitor line as had been reported previously for the original CG4 line (Yim et al, 1995).…”

“…The original upper phase and washings were combined and the gangliosides were isolated by passing this fraction through a Sep-Pak C-18 cartridge (Waters Associates, Milford, MA) (Williams and McCluer, 1980). Gangliosides were separated into mono-, di-, and polysialoganglioside fractions by DEAE Sephadex column chromatography (Chou et al, 1982).…”