Anti-GM3 (II3Neu5Ac-lactosylceramide) ganglioside antibody labels human fetal Purkinje neurons during the critical stage of cerebellar development.

The ganglioside GM3 (II3Neu5Ac-lactosylceramide) represents a minor ganglioside in normal human brain compared to major gangliosides with gangliotetraose-backbone. In this study the presence of GM3 in three 23 and 24 weeks of gestation old human cerebella was demonstrated by immunostaining extracted gangliosides on thin-layer chromatography plate as well as by immunohistochemical analysis of cerebellar cryosections. During this stage of brain development GM3 was found to be dominantly expressed on cells corresponding to Purkinje neurons. Delipidation of histological sections with chloroform/methanol caused significant reduction of anti-GM3 immunostaining, thus confirming the prevalent ganglioside nature of this antigen. These results give evidence that (1) GM3 ganglioside is associated with a specific subset of human fetal cerebellar neurons during the critical development stage, and (2) a definite ganglioside in general is distributed to a specific subset of cells in normal human brain.