A galactosylceramide, or galactocerebroside is a type of
cerebroside
Cerebrosides is the common name for a group of glycosphingolipids called monoglycosylceramides which are important components in animal muscle and nerve cell membranes.
They consist of a ceramide with a single sugar residue at the 1-hydroxyl ...
consisting of a
ceramide with a
galactose residue at the 1-hydroxyl moiety.
The galactose is cleaved by
galactosylceramidase
Galactosylceramidase (or galactocerebrosidase) is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the ''GALC'' gene. Galactosylceramidase is an enzyme which removes galactose from ceramide derivatives (galactosylceramides).
Galactosylceramidase is a lysos ...
.
Galactosylceramide is a marker for
oligodendrocytes in the brain, whether or not they form
myelin
Myelin is a lipid-rich material that surrounds nerve cell axons (the nervous system's "wires") to insulate them and increase the rate at which electrical impulses (called action potentials) are passed along the axon. The myelinated axon can be ...
.
Additional images
File:Sphingolipid.png, Sphingolipid
See also
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Alpha-Galactosylceramide
''alpha''-Galactosylceramide (α-GalCer, KRN7000) is a synthetic glycolipid derived from structure-activity relationship studies of galactosylceramides isolated from the marine sponge '' Agelas mauritianus''. α-GalCer is a strong immunostimulant ...
*
Krabbe disease
Krabbe disease (KD) (also known as globoid cell leukodystrophy or galactosylceramide lipidosis) is a rare and often fatal lysosomal storage disease that results in progressive damage to the nervous system. KD involves dysfunctional metabolism of ...
*
Myelin
Myelin is a lipid-rich material that surrounds nerve cell axons (the nervous system's "wires") to insulate them and increase the rate at which electrical impulses (called action potentials) are passed along the axon. The myelinated axon can be ...
References
External links
*
CHEMBL110111
Glycolipids
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