Isolation and characterization of ganglioside 9-O-acetyl-GD3 from bovine buttermilk.

Bovine buttermilk contains a unique ganglioside, 9-O-acetyl-GD3. In order to isolate large quantities of this ganglioside, a simplified isolation scheme which consists of several ion-exchange and silica gel column chromatographic procedures was devised. The isolated 9-O-acetyl-GD3 was characterized on the basis of its thin-layer chromatographic behavior, its immunoreactivity with a specific monoclonal antibody, JONES, and by conversion to authentic GD3 by mild base treatment.