High-pressure liquid chromatography of glycosphingolipids (with special reference to gangliosides)

The analysis of mixtures of gangliosides from adult human or bovine brain, supplemented with Tay-Sachs ganglioside, and haematoside from dog erythrocytes by high-pressure liquid chromatography using a moving-wire detector system is described. The complete separation of six gangliosides within 40 min has been achieved, using silica as the stationary phase and acidified chloroform-methanol-water mixtures as the eluent on a 25-cm column. Neutral glycosphingolipids, viz., the major components from normal human erythrocytes, can be completely separated on the same column, using non-aqueous and non-acidic eluents. It is shown that the methods described are useful for both analytical and (micro)-preparative purposes.