Cerebroside
Cerebrosides (also cerebrosides in German-speaking countries ) are a group of glycosphingolipids that are mainly found in nerve tissue . There they occur particularly in the myelin .
Structurally, the cerebrosides consist of a ceramide to which a monohexose, mostly galactose (in the brain ) or glucose ( liver and spleen ), is bound glycosidically . A distinction is made accordingly between galactocerebrosides and glucocerebrosides . In contrast to the cerebrosides, globosides have more than one neutral monosaccharide head group.
Depending on the fatty acid that occurs, a distinction is made between different subspecies of cerebrosides:
| fatty acid | designation |
|---|---|
| Lignoceric acid | Cerasin |
| Hydroxylignoceric or cerebronic acid |
Cerebron |
| Nervonic acid | Nervon |
| Oxynervonic acid | Oxynervon |
A special case of the galactocerebrosides are the sulfatides , they are β-sulfogalactocerebrosides.
Diseases
In Gaucher's disease , the patient lacks an enzyme , glucocerebrosidase , which splits glucocerebroside into sugar and fat. Thus these accumulate in the body's phagocytes . This leads to an enlarged liver and spleen.
In Krabbe's disease sufferers lack the enzyme β-galactosidase , which splits the galactocerebrosides. The brain is mainly affected.
literature
- Jeremy M. Berg, John L. Tymoczko, Lubert Stryer : Biochemistry. 6 edition, Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg 2007. ISBN 978-3-8274-1800-5 .
- Donald Voet, Judith G. Voet: Biochemistry. 3rd edition, John Wiley & Sons, New York 2004. ISBN 0-471-19350-X .
- Bruce Alberts , Alexander Johnson, Peter Walter, Julian Lewis, Martin Raff, Keith Roberts: Molecular Biology of the Cell , 5th Edition, Taylor & Francis 2007, ISBN 978-0815341062 .