ABSTRACT
Milk is a safe and convenient source of sphingolipids and gangliosides for nutritional, medical, and structural research and development. Interest has focused on these bioactive lipids due to their impact on cellular metabolism and implication in cancer prevention and apoptosis. Their structures offer several functional groups which lend themselves to modification for enhancement and alteration of activity. This chapter discusses the sources of sphingolipids and gangliosides. Purification and modification are then discussed, with emphasis on patented methods to help the reader deduce where the remaining opportunities are present.
