Nanoelectrospray high capacity ion trap multiple stage mass spectrometry for the structural analysis of human brain gangliosides

Full text: A novel protocol based on electrospray ionization (ESI) multiple stage high capacity ion trap (HCT) mass spectrometry (MS) was developed for glycosphingolipidomic surveys. The method was optimized for detailed structural elucidation of human brain gangliosides and particularly applied to human hippocampus-associated structures. The multiple stage MS experiments allowed for a complete structural characterization of GM1 ganglioside species, which was achieved by elucidation of the oligosaccharide sequence, identification of the GM1 a structural isomer from the data upon sialic acid localization along the sugar backbone and determination of the d18:1/18:0 of fatty acid/sphingoid base composition of the ceramide moiety. The methodology developed here is of general practical applicability for glycolipids and represents a step forward in the implementation of the advanced and most modern MS methods in glycomics. Gangliosides are glycosphingolipids, which consist of a mono- to polysialylated oligosaccharide chain of variable length attached to a ceramide portion of different composition with respect to the type of sphingoid base and fatty acid residues. Among all body systems, the central nervous system (CNS) possesses the highest content of gangliosides and they are playing a particularly important biological role at this level. Specific changes in the ganglioside expression and type of the expressed structures were observed to occur during brain development, maturation, and aging, and due to diseases or neurodegeneration processes. Gangliosides represent, therefore, an important class of biomarkers, carriers of information upon various CNS processes and events. Though in the human brain, their expression was observed to have a regional and tissue development induced specificity, the differences in ganglioside structure, composition and quantity were not systematically investigated or rigorously determined so far. (authors)