Structural characterization of acidic glycolipids of Trypanosoma cruzi

D.M. ACOSTA; A. S.COUTO; V. G. DUSCHAK

Córdoba- Argentina

Congreso; XLIV Reunión Anual de la Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Bioquímica y Biología Molecular; 2008

Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Bioquímica y Biología Molecular

Although acidic glycosphingolipids are ubiquitous in eukaryotic cells, very little is known about their role in parasites. Among acidic glycosphingolipids, gangliosides (containing sialic acid) and sulfoglycolipids which contain sulfate monoester groups are usually found as membrane components distributed on the cell surface. They are active participants in adhesion processes in many cellular systems and appear to be involved in the regulation of cell proliferation, differentiation and other developmental cellular events. In parasites, lipid metabolism has been attracting a lot of attention with respect to basic biology and applications for chemoterapeutic purposes, but although a lot has been reported about the relation of T. cruzi glycosphingolipids with chagasic autoimmunity, structures and the biological role of acidic glycosphingolipids of Trypanosoma cruzi has not been characterized so far. In this work we show by extraction, purification, TLC and MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry analysis, the structure of two acidic glycosphingolipids, a sulfatide and a ganglioside, named STc1 and GTc, respectively, from epimastigote forms of T. cruzi. Interestingly, parasite treatment with an inhibitor of the glycolipidic pathway caused an arrest on parasite development associated to variations in the acidic glycolipidic biosynthetic levels.