Gangliosides in Thermal Adaptation

Towards a Physicochemical Model of Ganglioside Function

Abstract

Comparative analyses of brain ganglioside composition from cold-blooded vertebrate species living in different climates, and from mammals during ontogenetical or seasonal changes in their body temperature, support the idea that gangliosides are involved in thermal adaptation of neuronal membranes. The changes in ganglioside patterns evoked by experimentally induced cold acclimation of fish confirm the rule “the lower the environmental temperature the more polar is the composition of brain gangliosides”. Evidence from artificial mono-and bilayer membrane model systems reveals the thermo-sensitivity of the surface behavior of gangliosides and of ganglioside-calcium interactions. Very recent data demonstrate that gangliosides evoke drastic changes in the temperature-dependent kinetics of a peptide channel incorporated into a bilayer, suggesting that gangliosides are able to modulate basic membrane properties. The implications of these findings in vivo and in vitro are discussed in the search for a general physicochemical model of ganglioside function in neuronal membranes.