Rat cerebellar granule cells in culture associate and metabolize differently exogenous GM1 ganglioside molecular species containing a C18 or C20 long chain base.

A study has been made of the association properties of the two GM1 ganglioside molecular species GM1-C18 and GM1-C20 (containing C18 and C20 long chain bases, respectively) to rat cerebellar granule cells in culture. Both gangliosides recognized, to the same extent, and associated with them to give a form of association, the trypsin-labile form. This form was removed by treatment with trypsin enzyme. Both gangliosides associated stably with the cells to become components of the cell membranes. Although similar amounts of the two gangliosides entered the cells, being then metabolized, the time course of the association was different for the two gangliosides: after 15 h of ganglioside-cell incubation the amount of GM1-C18 inserted into the cell membrane was 2.43 times higher than that of GM1-C20.