The glycosphingolipids of rat sublingual and submaxillary glands.

1. Glycosphingolipids have been isolated from rat sublingual and submaxillary glands by the procedure involving lipid extraction, column fractionation and thin-layer chromatography. 2. The major neutral glycosphingolipids in rat sublingual and submaxillary glands were monohexosylceramide, dihexosylceramide, tetrahexosylceramide and pentahexosylceramide. Both types of glands exhibited a low content of trihexosylceramide. The fucose-containing glycosphingolipids were not found. 3. The acidic glycosphingolipids in rat sublingual and submaxillary glands were composed of monohexose sulfatide, dihexose sulfatide and monosialo-and disialogangliosides of hematoside series. In addition, small quantities of gangliosides containing hexosamines were also present. 4. The distribution of acidic and neutral glycosphingolipids was similar in the sublingual and submaxillary glands, except for the tetrahexosylceramide and sultatides. Sublingual glands contained 1.5 and 3.0 times as much tetrahexosylceramide and sulfatides, respectively, as did submaxillary glands. 5. The glycosphingolipids of submaxillary and sublingual glands showed large similarity in fatty acid composition. The fatty acid composition of gangliosides resembled each other, but differed remarkably from those of sulfatides and neutral glycosphingolipids in the docosanoate content.