CHARACTERIZATION OF A NOVEL BRAIN NEUTRAL GLYCOSPHINGOLIPID COMPOSITION IN-HOUSE MUSK SHREW (SUNCUS-MURINUS)

Glycosphingolipids were extracted from the brain of house musk shrew ( Suncus murinus). Neutral glycosphingolipids were purified by QAE-Sepha dex column chromatography followed by high-performance liquid chromato graphy using an Iatrobeads column. Purified glycosphingolipids were id entified by high-performance thin-layer chromatography, carbohydrate a nalysis, fast-atom bombardment mass spectrometry and TLC immunostainin g. The ganglioside pattern was almost the same as the pattern obtained for rat brain gangliosides. The brain of S. murinus, however, was uni que in its neutral glycosphingolipid composition; it contained ganglio triaosylceramide and gangliotetraosylceramide as the major neutral gly cosphingolipids in addition to monohexosylceramides. Mass spectroscopy analysis showed that C18:1 sphingosine and C24:0 normal fatty acids w ere the major ceramide constituents in the glycosphingolipis, except i n the case where a slower-migrating monohexosylceramide that contained C24 h:0 hydroxy fatty acids was observed. A day after birth, monohexo sylceramide contained only normal fatty acids. The amounts of hydroxy- fatty-acid-containing monohexosylceramide increased rapidly as the age of the animals increased, and the ratio of these two kinds of monohex osylceramides was reversed within five weeks. Monohexosylceramide, gan glioside, and sulfatide contents in bulbus olfactorius were almost equ al in amount in contrast to the glycolipids in the cerebrum and cerebe llum that contained monohexosylceramide as the major constituent. The amount of monohexosylceramide in the bulbus olfactorius was 0.3-0.4 ti mes the values obtained for the of cerebrum and cerebellum.