Sugar-specific interaction of bovine brain beta-galactoside-binding lectin with endogenous gangliosides.

Sugar-specific binding of the 14 kDa beta-galactoside-binding lectin from bovine brain grey matter to mixed endogenous gangliosides was demonstrated by affinity electrophoresis and hemagglutination inhibition. Gangliosides prepared by Folch extraction, base treatment and silica gel chromatography, when incorporated in native or desialated form in polyacrylamide gel above their critical micellar concentration, arrested the mobility of the lectin during electrophoresis at pH 8.2. This effect was sugar-specific since it was reversed if lactose, but not sucrose, was present in the gel. Also, retention of the brain lectin by ganglioside and its reversal by lactose were concentration-dependent. In presence of bovine serum albumin, at pH 7.4 native and desialylated gangliosides equally inhibited agglutination of trypsinized rabbit red cells by bovine brain lectin, but not that by the alpha-galactoside-specific antibody from human serum. Results suggested the possibility of endogenous gangliosides acting as cell surface receptors in mediation of brain lectin function.