Characteristics of the Brain Tissue Disialoganglioside G2a

Normal human brain tissue and that of experimental animals contains a major group of four well defined gangliosides and a large number of small molecular species having a sufficient degree of structural similarity with each other. A fraction between G3 and G2 gangliosides which Korey and Gonatas (1963) and Suzuki (1967) denoted ganglioside G2a was observed during ganglioside separation using thin layer chromatography in various solvent systems. Dominick and Gielen (1968) named this fraction the substance X. However, chemical characteristics of the ganglioside mentioned are not known to a sufficient extent. Knowledge of this ganglioside chemical structure has a great importance for understanding of interrelations between the less and the more complex gangliosides during their biosynthesis.