CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Brain tissue is characterized by its high glycosphingolipidcontent, particularly those containing sialic acid (gangliosides).As a result of this observation, brain tissue was a focus forstudies leading to the characterization of the enzymes participatingin ganglioside biosynthesis, and their participation indriving the compositional changes that occur in glycolipidexpression during brain development. Later on, this focusshifted to the study of cellular aspects of the synthesis, whichlead to the identification of the site of synthesis in the neuronalsoma and their axonal transport toward the periphery. In thisreview article, we will focus in subcellular aspects of thebiosynthesis of glycosphingolipid oligosaccharides, particularlythe mechanisms underlying the trafficking of glycosphingolipidglycosyltransferases from the endoplasmic reticulum to theGolgi, those that promote their retention in the Golgi and thosethat participate in their topological organization as part of thecomplex membrane bound machinery for the synthesis of glycosphingolipids.