Novel pentahexosyl ganglioside of the globo series purified from chicken muscle.

A monosialosyl ganglioside, sialosylpentaglycosyl-ceramide, has been isolated from chicken pectoral muscle. This ganglioside is the first to be found which contains the glycosphingolipid structure of the globo series. It was extracted from tissue with a mixture of tetrahydrofuran and aqueous KCl and purified by anion exchange and silicic acid chromatography. Enzymic hydrolysis utilizing specific glycosidases and methylation technique were employed to establish the structure which is proposed to be: NeuAc alpha 2 leads to 3Gal beta 1 leads to 3GalNAc beta 1 leads to 3Gal alpha 1 leads to 4Gal beta 1 leads to 4GlcCer. The chain base was predominantly sphingosine and the fatty acids present were mainly stearate and oleate.