Ganglioside Abnormalities in Multiple Sclerosis

Gangliosides were isolated from plaque tissue and normal appearing white matter of multiple sclerosis (MS) brain. All four plaques showed decreased ganglioside concn relative to normal human white matter on a wet wt basis, but significant elevation in terms of dry wt. The wet wt and dry wt concn of MS white matter gangliosides showed smaller but statistically significant decreases below normal. Thin‐layer patterns of the plaques showed several departures from normal white matter, including decrease of G 4 and G 5 , and complete loss of G 7 (sialosylgalactosylceramide). Most of the plaques had significant elevation of G 2A and G 3A along with increases of the slower‐migrating polysialogangliosides. An additional ganglioside was present between G 2 and G 2A which was not seen in normal white matter. The TLC pattern of MS white matter gangliosides was essentially normal. The evidence for a general decrease of acidic lipids within normal appearing white matter is discussed.