Ganglioside function in the development and repair of the nervous system

Abstract

Gangliosides play important roles in the normal physiological operations of the nervous system, in particular that of the brain. Changes in ganglioside composition occur in the mammalian brain not only during development, but also in aging and in several neuropathological situations. Gangliosides may modulate the ability of the brain to modify its response to cues or signals from the microenvironment. For example, cultured neurons are known to respond to exogenous ganglioside with changes characteristic of cell differentiation. Gangliosides can amplify the responses of neurons to extrinsic protein factors (neuronotrophic factors) that are normal constituents of the neuron's environment. The systemic administration of monosialoganglioside also potentiates trophic actions in vivo and improves neural responses following various types of injury to the adult mammalian central nervous system. The possible molecular mechanism(s) underlying the ganglioside effects may reflect an action in modulating ligand-receptor linked transfer of information across the plasma membrane of the cell.

Enhanced Susceptibility to Kainate-Induced Seizures, Neuronal Apoptosis, and Death in Mice Lacking Gangliotetraose Gangliosides: Protection with LIGA 20, a Membrane-Permeant Analog of GM1

“…GM1 is a pluripotent ganglioside known to exert diverse modulatory effects on a variety of membrane receptors, enzymes, ion channels, and adhesion molecules (Kreutter et al, 1987;Doherty et al, 1992;Fueshko and Schengrund, 1992;Carlson et al, 1994;Ferrari et al, 1995;Mutoh et al, 1995;Saito et al, 1995;Wu et al, 1996Wu et al, , 1997Pitto et al, 1998;Rampersaud et al, 1999;Wang et al, 1999). It was shown to have neuroprotective prop- erties in several in vitro and in vivo systems (for review, see Mahadik and Karpiak, 1988;Ledeen, 1989;Skaper et al, 1989). Together with other members of the gangliotetraose family, some of which express modulatory effects toward other proteins (Hakomori and Igarashi, 1993), GM1 increases dramatically as a component of the PM glycocalyx during neuronal differentiation (Ledeen and Wu, 1992).…”

Sphingolipid therapy in myocardial ischemia–reperfusion injury

“…Gangliosides are a class of sialic acid containing glycosphingolipids that are particularly abundant in the central nervous system [19]. They have been implicated in several biological processes including cell-cell recognition, regulation of cell growth and differentiation and signal transduction [20].…”

Penetration of blood–brain barrier and antitumor activity and nerve repair in glioma by doxorubicin-loaded monosialoganglioside micelles system

“…[15][16][17] Many studies have shown that GM1 gangliosides can play neuroprotective and neurorestorative roles in neuronal injury, as well as induce neuritogenesis and promote cell differentiation. [18][19][20] More importantly, GM1 can overcome the BBB and treat neurological disease. 21 Exogenously administered GM1 have been widely used in clinical treatment of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson and Alzheimer.…”