Thin layer chromatography of gangliosides

Thin layer chromatography is the easiest way to analyze the total glycosphingolipid mixtures extracted, and, in some cases, partially purified from tissues and cultured cells. Several solvent systems have been introduced to separate the complex mixtures as a function of their composition, presence of contaminants and, in some cases, of their quantity. In addition, colorimetric, enzymatic, immunological and radiochemical detection procedures are available for their recognition. The method does not allow to determine the chemical structure of separated molecules, but gives a very economical and very accessible first information on their possible structure on the basis of their chromatographic mobility in comparison with standards, and of their reactivity to the staining procedures. In this paper we show how to perform mono and two-dimensional thin layer chromatography of the total lipid mixture extracted from mouse brains and, in a few cases, from cells in culture. Table 1 shows the structures of reported lipids.