What is a ganglioside made of?

Gangliosides are glycosphingolipids composed of a ceramide lipid tail attached through glycosidic linkage to a glycan headgroup containing one or more sialic acid residues (Figure 1).

How are gangliosides synthesized?

First, a simple ganglioside, GM3, is synthesized by addition of a sialic acid to LacCer by CMP-sialic acid: LacCer α2–3 sialyltransferase (ST-I or GM3 synthase). Asialo-series gangliosides are also synthesized from LacCer by these glycosyltransferases along a different pathway.

What is GM3 ganglioside?

GM3 (monosialodihexosylganglioside) is a type of ganglioside. GM3 is the most common membrane-bound glycosphingolipid in tissues, composed of three monosaccharide groups attached to a ceramide backbone. GM3 serves as a precursor for other, more complex gangliosides.

What is a ganglioside in medicine?

Gangliosides are macromolecules made up of an oligosaccharide with at least one acid sugar associated with the lipid ceramide. They are widely distributed in the membranes of the central and peripheral nervous system tissues.

Why are they called gangliosides?

The name ganglioside was first applied by the German scientist Ernst Klenk in 1942 to lipids newly isolated from ganglion cells of the brain.

Which specific ganglioside can be seen in human myelin sheath?

MAG, on the innermost wrap of the myelin sheath, binds to gangliosides GD1a and GT1b on axons. MAG-ganglioside binding ensures optimal axon-myelin cell-cell interactions, enhances long term axon-myelin stability and inhibits axon outgrowth after injury.

Which rare disease that is inherited progressively destroys neurons in the brain and spinal cord?

GM2 gangliosidosis is a rare genetic disorder that progressively destroys nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. The most common form of the disease typically presents in infancy, but various other forms can present in childhood, adolescence, or even adulthood.

Are gangliosides Globosides?

It is essential to note that the difference between globosides and gangliosides lies in the fact that globosides are neutral while gangliosides have a net-negative charge at pH 7.0 (acidic) due to the presence of N-acetyl neuraminic acid or sialic acid on one or more of its terminal sugar units.

What are gangliosides mention their functions?

Gangliosides function as antigens or receptors by recognizing specific molecules (lectins), including bacterial toxins, at the cell surface and by modulating the charge density at the membrane surface (see the section on Gangliosides and Disease below).