1982 Volume 91 Issue 6 Pages 1875-1887
By the application of a ganglioside-mapping technique, the lipid composition of bovine thyroid was analyzed systematically. The contents of cholesterol, lipidbound phosphorus and lipid-bound sialic acid in bovine thyroid were 5.10, 9.76, and 0.28 μmol/g of dry tissue, respectively, and the molar ratio of cholesterol, lipidbound sialic acid, and lipid-bound phosphorus was 52.4:2.9:100.0. The following phospholipids were contained in this order: phosphatidylcholine>phosphatidylethanolamine>sphingomyelin>phosphatidylserine and phosphatidylinositol>cardiolipin. When compared on a molar basis, the amount of total glycosphingolipids was only 3% of phospholipids. As the major neutral glycosphingolipids, ceramide glucoside, ceramide galactoside, ceramide lactoside, ceramide trihexoside and globoside were identified and the most abundant component was globoside (40% of total neutral glycosphingolipids). On the other hand, five molecular species of gangliosides were identified: GM 3, GM 1, fucosyl GM 1, GD 3, and GDla. Three types of GD 3 and GDla with a different sialic acid composition were recognized on the ganglioside-map and isolated in pure forms. GM 3 was the most abundant component, but the concentration of gangliosides with ganglio-N-tetraose in bovine thyroid was higher than that of gangliosides with lactose. Also fucosyl GM 1 comprised 13% of total gangliosides. Thus, the high concentrations of gangliosides with ganglio-N-tetraose and fucosyl GM 1 seemed to be characteristic of bovine thyroid glycosphingolipids. The glycosphingolipids contained in the following order: GM 3>GDla>globoside>GM 1>ceramide trihexoside>fucosyl GM 1>ceramide lactoside>ceramide glucoside>GD 3>ceramide galactoside.
