Sulphatide as a major glycosphingolipid in WHHL rabbit serum lipoproteins and its anticoagulant activity.

Sulphatide is found to be a major glycosphingolipid in serum lipoproteins of rabbit and its content is markedly elevated in serum of WHHL rabbit, an animal model for human familial hypercholesterolemia. On analysis of tissue sulphatide contents, serum appears to derive its sulphatide from liver (90%) and small intestine (10%) and passes on to aorta of WHHL rabbit which is found to have a large amount of sulphatide while none is found in normal aorta. Thus it seems that sulphatide finally accumulates in arterial walls along with the progression of atherosclerosis in WHHL rabbit. Since sulphatide at median concentration (8 nmole/ml serum) in various mammals is found to increase activated partial thromboplastin time by 25%, it is suggested that anticoagulant activity may be one of the physiological functions of sulphatide in serum. The observation of an increase in activated partial thromboplastin time by 2.5-fold on injection of sulphatide (10 mg/kg body wt) into rabbit suggests that sulphatide may be an effective and safe antithrombotic agent.

Glycosphingolipids of porcine blood: human blood group A and H antigens with type 1 chain in erythrocytes and plasma.

Glycosphingolipids were purified from porcine erythrocytes and plasma. Two minor glycolipids with human blood group A and H antigenicities were found in both sources as components. The two antigenic glycolipids were identified as a hexaglycosylceramide (IV3 alpha GalNAc,IV2 alpha Fuc-Lc4Cer) for the A antigen and pentaglycosylceramide (IV2 alpha Fuc-Lc4Cer) for the H antigen and belonged to lactoseries (type 1 sugar chain) in contrast to those with neolacto core (type 2 sugar chain) in human erythrocytes, thereby endorsing biochemically the previous serological observations that the A antigen on porcine erythrocytes is uptake from plasma, probably the H antigen being the case. In addition to major glycolipids of globoseries in red cells and plasma, a variety of acidic glycolipids including two classes of sulphatides (sulphated galactosylceramide and sulphated lactosylceramide) and five classes of gangliosides (GM3, GD3, GM1, fucosyl GM1 and GD1a) containing N-acetylneuraminic acid and N-glycolylneuraminic acid were obtained from plasma.