The recent literature about autoimmune peripheral neuropathies has been dominated by the discovery of antibodies to a variety of glycosphingolipids. Gangliosides are important carbohydrate determinants for autoimmune activity, and several studies have suggested that serum antibodies against gangliosides are responsible for some forms of acute and chronic neuropathy syndromes. However, this view...

The chemical analysis of myelin isolated from brain tissue has indicated that gangliosides, and in particular the monosialoganglioside GMl, are constituents of this organelle (Suzuki etal., 1967, 1968; Suzuki, 1970; Ledeen etal., 1973). It is still possible, however, that these glycolipids may to some extent represent contamination of myelin fractions by oligodendroglial or axonal membranes. Th...