Molecular species analysis of glycosphingolipids from small intestine of Japanese quail, Coturnix coturnix Japonica by HPLC/FAB/MS

Neutral glycosphingolipids were isolated from quail small intestine and their structures were analysed. They contained: Galβ1-4GlcCer(LacCer), Galα1-4GalCer(Ga₂Cer), Galα1-4Galβ1-4GlcCer(Gb₃Cer), GlcNAcβ1-3Galβ1-4GlcCer(Le₃Cer), GalNAcβ1-4Galβ1-4GlcCer(Gg₃Cer), GalNAcβ1-4[GalNAcβ1-3]Galβ1-4GlcCer(LcGg₄Cer), and GalNAcα1-3GalNAcβ1-3Galα1-4Galβ1-4GlcCer (Forssman glycolipid) as well as glucosylceramide, galactosylceramide (Nishimura K et al. 1984)Biochim Biophys Acta796:269-76) and the Le^x glycolipid, III³ Fucα-nLc₄Cer (Nishimura K et al. (1989)J. Biochem (Tokyo)101:1315-18). The molecular species compositions of these glycosphingolipids were examined using fast atom bombardment-mass spectrometry linked with reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. By such analysis, we could classify the quail glycosphingolipids into at least three classes: glycolipids rich in species having four hydroxyl groups in the ceramides (GalCer, Gg₃Cer, LcGg₄Cer and Le^x), those rich in the ceramides of N-acyl trihydroxysphinganine with normal fatty acids (Lc₃Cer), and glycolipids rich in the ceramides of N-acyl sphingenine with normal fatty acids (LacCer, Gb₃Cer and Forssman glycolipid). Immunohistochemical observation implies that the differences in the hydrophobic moieties specified the localization of glycosphingolipids in the tissue.