title: The degradative pathway of gangliosides GM1 and GM2 in Neuro2a cells by sialidase.
abstract: Gangliosides GM1 [3H-labeled at the sphingosine (Sph) moiety] and GM2 [3H-labeled at the Sph or N-acetylgalactosamine (GalNAc) moiety] were administered to cultured Neuro2a cells for varying pulse (1-4 h) and chase (up to 4 h) periods, and their metabolic processing was followed. The main and earliest formed 3H-metabolites of [Sph-3H]GM1 were GM2, asialo-GM1 asialo-GM2, and lactose-ceramide, and those of [Sph-3H]GM2 were asialo-GM2 and lactose-ceramide. The asialo-GM1 and asialo-GM2 formed were isolated and chemically characterized. [3H]Asialo-GM2 was produced in identical amounts after treatment with equimolar [Sph-3H]GM2 and [GalNAc-3H]GM2. At low temperature or in the presence of chloroquine, the formation of all 3H-metabolites, including asialo-GM2 and asialo-GM1, was undetectable, indicating that ganglioside metabolic processing was an endocytosis- and lysosome-dependent process. These results demonstrate that in Neuro2a cells exogenous GM1 (and GM2) is mainly degraded through the pathway GM1-->GM2-->asialo-GM2-->-->Sph, with a minor fraction of GM1 undergoing degradation with the sequence GM1-->asialo-GM-1-->asialo-GM2-->-->Sph. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that Neuro2a cells contain a sialidase (likely of lysosomal nature) affecting ganglioside GM1 and GM2. The sialidase-mediated degradative pathway of GM1 and GM2 in Neuro2a cells might be related to the tumoral nature of these cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Chemistry and Biochemistry, Medical School, University of Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Riboni
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Caminiti
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bassi
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tettamanti
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005677:G(M1) Ganglioside / Q000378:metabolism*; D005678:G(M2) Ganglioside / Q000378:metabolism*; D051379:Mice; D009439:Neuraminidase / Q000494:pharmacology*; D009447:Neuroblastoma / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D005678:G(M2) Ganglioside; D005677:G(M1) Ganglioside; D009439:Neuraminidase