ABSTRACT
I. INTRODUCTION Glycosphingolipids, as membrane components, have been shown to play important roles in the modulation of cell differentiation and proliferation, cell-to-cell recognition in inflammation and organogenesis, and other physi ological functions [1-4]. Structural studies of glycosphingolipids are a pre requisite for understanding the relationships between their chemical struc tures and functions in cellular activities. To characterize glycosphingolipid structures, they must be purified to homogeneity by DEAE and multiple silica bead column chromatographies. These purification steps are time consuming, and the yields of the purified glycosphingolipids are always low.
