ABSTRACT
Gangliosides are a family of acidic glycosphingolipids common in vertebrate plasma membranes and are especially enriched in neural tissue. The ceramide portion, which consists of sphingosine and fatty acids, is located in the membrane lipid bilayer and the sialyloligosaccharide extends out from the plasma membrane surface to the extracellular space. The structural diversity together with their mysterious function has intrigued scientists for many years. The possibility that gangliosides may play an important role in the regulation of cell growth has been discussed in several excellent reviews which correlate the expression of specific gangliosides on the surface of various cell types with differentiation, oncogenic transformation, tumor progression, and the cell cycle. An experimental approach that has often been used to examine the role of gangliosides in cell growth is the insertion of exogenous gangliosides into the plasma membranes of a variety of cell types in order to elevate the level of specific membrane-bound gangliosides.
