The occurrence of sialoglycolipids in bull, buffalo and goat

Poulos & White (1974) demonstrated the presence of at least five separate glycolipid components in boar spermatozoa by thin-layer chromatography, and a similar number ofglycolipids have been characterized by the same method in buffalo semen (Y. C. Jain and S. R. Anand, unpublished data), but no work has been done on the sialic acid-containing glycolipids called ganglio-sides. The latter are a group ofglycosphingolipids characterized by the absence of phosphorus, and the presence of sialic acid, sugar (usually galactose and/or glucose), amino sugar (usually acetylgalactosamine) and ceramide, normally in the form of a complex composed of a long chain fatty acid and sphingosine. In this communication, the occurrence ofsialoglycolipids, tentatively identified as gangliosides by thin-layer chromatography, in bull, buffalo and goat semen is described. Semen was collected using an artificial vagina and, after pooling according to species, the spermatozoa were separated from the seminal plasma by centrifu-gation. The separated seminal plasma was taken to dryness under vacuum