Gangliosides and thermal adaptation.

The concentration and pattern of brain gangliosides of lower and higher vertebrates were compared. Only when considering the eco-factor temperature clear correlations between systematical position of species, thermal adaptation status and brain ganglioside composition can be shown: lowering of the environmental temperature induces a long-term formation of more polar ganglioside fractions. In fishes additional long-term compensatory effects to changes in temperature were demonstrated with regard to motor activity, bioelectrical activity of the CNS (post-synaptic potential amplitude) and avoidance conditioning-learning. All phenomena taken together reflect a mechanism of modulating the thermo-sensitivity of the membrane-mediated processes of transmission.