Section I: Fundamentals for Research on Function of Gangliosides.- History of ganglioside research.- Fundamentals of the biological properties of sialic acids.- Fundamentals of ganglioside structure.- Fundamentals of structural analysis of glycosphingolipids by proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.- Fundamentals of the application of MS and NMR in the study of ganglioside structure.- Computer predictions of glycosphingolipid conformation.- Fundamentals of physico-chemical properties of gangliosides in solution.- Fundamentals of physico-chemistry of glycolipids in membranes.- Peculiarities of ganglioside Ca2+-interactions.- Isolation and analysis of gangliosides with 0-acetylated sialic acids.- Up-to-date chromatography of gangliosides.- The use of GM1 alkaline hydrolysis products for the preparation of ganglioside molecular species and ganglio-side derivatives (Abstract).- Pyrene-labeled gangliosides: micellar properties in aqueous solution, lateral diffusion and thermotropic behaviour in phosphatidylcholine bilayer (Abstract).- Influence of Ca2+ and temperature changes on the surface requirement of gangliosides and phospholipids in monolayers (Abstract).- Stability of ganglioside monolayers at a liquid/liquid interface. A polarographic study of the Ca2+-effect (Abstract).- Summary of Section I.- Section II: Brain Ganqlioside Metabolism.- Fundamentals of brain ganglioside biosynthesis.- In vivo distribution and metabolism of exogenous gangliosides.- In vitro incorporation and metabolism of gangliosides.- Fundamentals of ganglioside catabolism.- Gangliosides: Biosynthesis, transport and location in the plasma membrane.- Fundamentals of neuronal transport of gangliosides. Functional implications.- Fundamentals of genetic control of gangliosides: The enigma of carbohydrate chain diversity in glycosphingolipids.- Genetic regulation of ganglioside expression.- Drug induced alterations of ganglioside biosynthesis.- Inhibition of GM2 and GD3 synthase by end-product gangliosides in vitro (Abstract).- Substrate specifity of GM2 synthase and GD3 synthase of Golgi vesicles derived from rat liver (Abstract).- Effect of veratrine or ganglioside biosynthesis in cerebellar cultures (Abstract).- New aspects in the determination of endogenous membrane-bound sialidase in the CNS, using 4-MU-NeuAc as an exogenous artificial substrate (Abstract).- Axonal transport of intraocularly injected (3H-Sph)-GD1a and (3H-Sph)-GM1 (Abstract).- Functionally distinct oncogenes differently regulate cellular expression of gangliosides (Abstract).- Summary of Section II.- Section III: Cell specific distribution and differentiation-related expression of brain gangliosides.- Phylogeny of vertebrate brain gangliosides.- Insects: Animals without gangliosides — Preliminary data.- Pre-organ glycolipids and pre-brain gangliosides.- Ontogeny of vertebrate brain gangliosides.- Brain gangliosides and neurological mutants.- Gangliosides as autoantigens and differentiation antigens.- Monoclonal antibodies against gangliosides.- Glioma-associated gangliosides.- Treatment of patients with neuroectodermal tumors by monoclonal ganglioside antibodies.- Brain gangliosides in birds and mammals with altrical versus precocial type of development (Abstract).- Determination of Chol-1 antigen in human brain and neuroblastoma tumor (Abstract).- Antigenicity of gangliosides (Abstract).- Summary of Section III.- Section IV: Gangliosides and neuronal plasticity.- Ganglioside-mediated modulation of growth factor receptor function and cell adhesion.- Modulation of neuronotrophic factoraction by exogenous gangliosides.- The neuritogenic effect of gangliosides in cell cultures.- Brain gangliosides, bio-electrical activity and post-stimulation effects.- Gangliosides and neuronal plasticity in the rat hippocampus.- Gangliosides as differential modulators of protein phosphorylation (Abstract).- Gangliosides and neuropathy.- Voltage clamp analysis of exogenous ganglioside (GM1)application on Aplysia neurons (Abstract).- Histo-autoradiographic investigations on the incorporation of 14C-N-acetyl-mannosamine into the brain of fat dormice (Glis glis) adapted to different temperatures (Abstract).- Immunohistochemical localization of GM1 ganglioside in human skeletal muscle in neuropathies and myopathies (Abstract).- Summary of Section IV.- Section V: Bio-medical potential of exogenous ganglioside-application on neuronal functions.- Nerve cell cultures as tool for research on ganglioside function (Abstract).- Gangliosides and functional recovery of injured nervous systems (Abstract).- Clinical aspects on bio-medical potential of exogenous ganglioside application.- Present state of clinical experience of ganglioside application in man.- Uptake of exogenous gangliosides by the CNS?.- Effect of gangliosides on nerve conduction velocity during diabetic neuropathy in the rat (Abstract).- GM1 ganglioside injections increase axon sprouting in the retinotectal system of the hamster (Abstract).- Summary of Section V.- Section VI: Round Table Discussion.- Critical assessment on the transferability of in vitro-results to the in vivo-situation. An attempt to delimite the effects and the action mechanisms of exogenous gangliosides.- Assessment of the significance of clinical tests in general.- Summary of Section VI: Critical Assessment of Aspects of Ganglioside Therapie.- VII: List of Participants.- VIII: Contributor Index.- IX: Subject Index.
