Fatty acids and long-chain bases of gangliosides of human gastrointestinal mucosa.

The fatty acid and long-chain base composition of five major gangliosides from human stomach and small and large intestine mucosa were analyzed with gas chromatography. All the gangliosides greatly resembled each other in the fatty acid pattern. The main fatty acids were C16:0, C18:0, C22:0 and C24:1. No hydroxy fatty acids could be detected. In all the gangliosides 4-sphingenine was the predominant long-chain base (70-75%). About 15% of the long-chain bases had 20 carbon atoms in their chain. No trihydroxy long-chain bases could be detected.