Changes of glycolipids dependent on cell density of Ehrlich ascites carcinoma cells.

The glycolipid composition of Ehrlich ascites carcinoma cells was found to depend strongly on the cell density of the suspension. The general trend observed upon dilution of the cell suspension was a reduction of the less complex gangliosides GM3 and GM2 with concomitant increase of the more complex gangliosides, especially GM1. The increase of the content of ganglioside GM1 upon dilution was accompanied by a comparable decrease of the content of its immediate precursor, asialo-GM1, whereas the content of other neutral glycosphingolipids did not change very much. When the cell suspension was diluted with medium conditioned by dense cells the ganglioside profile of the diluted suspension remained similar to that of the dense cell suspension. It is postulated that the medium conditioned with dense cells contains a transferable factor inhibiting sialylation of asialo-GM1.