Cellular Localization of Gangliosides in the Mouse Cerebellum: Analysis Using Neurological Mutants

Abstract

Understanding the function of gangliosides in the central nervous system (CNS) requires knowledge of their cellular distribution. It would be important to know if certain gangliosides are more or less concentrated in specific neural cell types and to know how gangliosides are distributed over the surface of neurons. In other words, are all gangliosides randomly distributed over the entire cell surface or are there domains on the neuronal surface (synapse, dendrite, perikaryon, axon hillock, axon) where the concentration of one ganglioside predominates over that of another. The distribution of gangliosides between cells and within cells may also vary with age. Hence, a series of neurological mouse mutants that lose specific populations of cerebellar neurons at various stages of development provides an excellent system for studying the cellular distribution of gangliosides in the CNS.