Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis of oligosaccharides from neutral glycosphingolipids of murine B cell hybridomas.

Monoclonal B cell hybridoma cell lines express glycolipids characteristic of both the myeloma and normal lymphocyte parents. The neutral glycolipids from hybridoma cell lines metabolically radiolabeled with [14C]galactose plus [14C]glucosamine separate by high performance thin layer chromatography into patterns that may reflect differences in glycolipid expression among B cell subsets. Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry of oligosaccharides released by trifluoroacetolysis from neutral glycolipids extracted from 10(9) clonally expanded hybridoma cells reveals the carbohydrate composition of the major glycolipid components detected by thin layer chromatography. Glycolipids differentially expressed among six cell lines analyzed include monohexosylceramide, lactosylceramide, globotriaosylceramide, globoside, asialo-GM2, and 2'fucosyllactosylceramide. The latter compound has not been described previously in cells from the mouse.