Purification and structures of branched blood-group-B-active glycosphingolipids from human erythrocyte membranes.

Three different variants of complex, branched, highly blood-group-B-active glycosphingolipids (B-III, B-IV, and B-V) have been isolated from human erythrocytes by means of partition of their membranes in n-butanol/phosphate buffer, subsequent removal of nonpolar lipids and proteins by several steps of phase distribution, acetone or sodium acetate precipitation, peracetylation and repeated fractionation of all crude extracts by silicic acid and ion exchange column chromatography. Finally, peracetylated B-glycolipid fractions were purified to homogeneity by preparative silica gel high-performance thin-layer chromatography. Their structures were elucidated by gas chromatographical sugar analysis, by combined gas chromatography/mass spectrometry of partially methylated alditol acetates for the identification of glycosidic linkages, and by fast atom bombardment and electron impact mass spectrometry of the undegraded, permethylated substances in order to establish the molecular mass, sugar sequence, type of oligosaccharide chain, position of hexosyl branching points, number of N-acetyllatosamine units, as well as sphingosine and fatty acid patterns of the ceramide residues. 360-MHz 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy in (2H)dimethylsulfoxide of deuterium-exchanged native B-III and B-IV identified all carbohydrate components, their sites of attachment, the anomeric nature of their glycosidic linkages and the sequential arrangement within the oligosaccharide chain. Furthermore, it established the nature of branching points within the carbohydrate sequence, and assigned the different typical saccharide branches to either the position 2 versus 3, or position 3 versus 6 of the 2,3-disubstituted or 3,6-disubstituted galactoses. The nature of the anomeric linkages and branching points of B-V was based upon the series of NMR data obtained from the B-I--B-IV analogues. All results thus establish the following structures: (formula; see text)