Developmental Profiles of Gangliosides in Human and Rat Brain

Abstract

Abstract— The developmental profiles of individual gangliosides of human brain were compared with those of rat brain. Interest was focused mainly on the pre‐ and early postnatal development. Human frontal lobe cortex covering the period from 10 foetal weeks to adult age and the cerebrum of rat from birth to 21 days were analysed. Lipid‐NANA and lipid‐P were followed; in the rat, also protein and brain weight. A limited number of samples of human cerebral white matter and cerebellar cortex were also studied. The following major results were obtained: The ganglioside concentration increased approximately three‐fold within a short period: in rat cerebrum, from birth to the 17th day; in human cerebral cortex, from the 15th foetal week to the age of about 6 months. The largest increase in the rat brain occurred by the 11th to the 13th day; in human brain by term. The relative increase of gangliosides during this period was more rapid than that of phospholipids. A hitherto unknown distinct early period of ganglioside and phospholipid formation in rat occurred by the second to fourth day. The changes in brain ganglioside pattern, characteristic of the developmental stages of the rat, were found to be equally pronounced in the human brain. Regional developmental differences in the ganglioside pattern were demonstrated in human brain. A characteristic white matter pattern, rich in monosialogangliosides, had developed by the age of 1 year. The increase in ganglioside concentration and the formation of the definitive ganglioside pattern of cerebellar cortex occurred later than in cerebral cortex. This cerebellar pattern was characterized by a very large trisialoganglioside fraction. The two periods of rapid ganglioside metabolism in rat brain preceded the two periods of rapid protein biosynthesis.

Immunohistochemical staining for ganglioside GD1b as a diagnostic and prognostic marker for primary human brain tumors

“…There are changes in the ganglioside composition of normal human brain with development and aging. On the basis of ganglioside sialic acid, the proportion of total ganglioside accounted for by GD1b progressively increases from approximately 10% at birth to 30% in adults (Segler-Stahl et al, 1983;Vanier et al, 1971). This is the inverse of what we found for the relation between .…”

“…One of the major families of gangliosides in normal adult brain, the "1b" family, is derived from a parent compound called GD1b. The latter accounts for most of the 1b family gangliosides in normal human brain (Vanier et al, 1971). The other major 1b gangliosides in human brain include GT1b, which has one sialic acid attached to the GD1b structure, and GQ1b, which has two additional sialic acids (Wiegandt, 1982).…”

Confirmatory Studies in the Prenatal Diagnosis of Sphingolipidoses

“…The apparent discrepancy between the enzyme analysis and gel electrophoresis [21]. The ganglioside distribution, in terms of molar percentages of the major gangliosides, also agrees with published values [22]. Enzyme data obtained from fetal liver, kidney, and brain provided an interesting comparison of the two groups of abortuses (Table III).…”

Extrapolating brain development from experimental species to humans

“…He expanded on interspecies comparisons of brain growth (Donaldson, 1918), neural-related enzymes (Farooqui and Bachhawat, 1971) and ganglioside concentrations (glycolipids used as an indirect measure of white matter) (Vanier et al, 1971). Dobbing identified growth spurts using DNA to estimate cell numbers, and cholesterol levels to approximate the degree of myelination (Dobbing, 1970), later including brain weights and water content (Dobbing, 1981).…”