Demonstration of Serum Precipitin to Brain Ganglioside

Abstract

STUDIES on the structure of brain ganglioside, a macromolecular glycolipid which occurs in high concentration in cerebral grey matter, suggested that this material might be suited to function at membrane surfaces, since it possesses both carbohydrate and lipid moieties structurally so arranged that the molecule could bridge hydrophylic and lipophylic phases¹. Further investigation of the properties of this substance^2,3 demonstrated that it interacted with certain viruses, both in vitro and in vivo, in a manner suggesting that it is utilized by infecting viruses as a natural receptor substance in the cell. In a membrane-active system, the clam heart, it was found to have stimulatory effect in very low concentration⁴. The presence of hexos-amine and hexose constituents in brain ganglioside relates it structurally to the blood group substances⁵. For these reasons it became of interest to determine whether antisera might be prepared to brain ganglioside.