A method for profiling gangliosides in animal tissues using electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry. Anal Biochem 2005 Jun 15;341(2):251-8
Date
05/24/2005Pubmed ID
15907870DOI
10.1016/j.ab.2005.03.036Scopus ID
2-s2.0-19444384177 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 42 CitationsAbstract
Gangliosides are critical in many functions of mammalian cells but present as a minor lipid component with many molecular species of subtle differences. Conventional strategies for profiling gangliosides suffer from poor reproducibility, low sensitivity, and low-throughput capacity. Prior separation of gangliosides by thin-layer chromatography and/or high-performance liquid chromatography not only was laborious and tedious but also could introduce uneven losses of molecular species. We developed a new strategy of using electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS) to profile gangliosides with high-throughput potential. This strategy involves three new findings: (i) collision-induced fragmentation of gangliosides gave rise to a common ion of m/z 290, a derivative of N-acetylneuraminic acid; (ii) phospholipids exert a profound suppression of ganglioside detection in ESI-MS/MS to prevent a direct detection in total cellular lipid extracts; and (iii) enrichment of gangliosides in the aqueous phase from total cellular lipid extracts eliminates the damping effect of phospholipids and permits direct precursor scan.
Author List
Tsui ZC, Chen QR, Thomas MJ, Samuel M, Cui ZAuthor
Michael J. Thomas PhD Professor in the Pharmacology and Toxicology department at Medical College of WisconsinMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
AnimalsBrain Chemistry
Gangliosides
Male
Mice
Phospholipids
Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization
