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Abstract
The ganglioside GM3 (II3Neu5Ac-lactosylceramide) represents a minor ganglioside in
normal human brain compared to major gangliosides with gangliotetraose-backbone. In
this study the presence of GM3 in three 23 and 24 weeks of gestation old human cerebella
was demonstrated by immunostaining extracted gangliosides on thin-layer chromatography
plate as well as by immunohistochemical analysis of cerebellar cryosections. During
this stage of brain development GM3 was found to be dominantly expressed on cells
corresponding to Purkinje neurons. Delipidation of histological sections with chloroform/methanol
caused significant reduction of anti-GM3 immunostaining, thus confirming the prevalent
ganglioside nature of this antigen. These results give evidence that (1) GM3 ganglioside
is associated with a specific subset of human fetal cerebellar neurons during the
critical development stage, and (2) a definite ganglioside in general is distributed
to a specific subset of cells in normal human brain.