Sulfatide (bovine) (sodium salt)

Sulfatides are endogenous sulfoglycolipids with various biological activities in the central and peripheral nervous systems, pancreas, and immune system.¹ They are produced from the combination of ceramide and UDP-galactose in the endoplasmic reticulum followed by sulfation in the Golgi apparatus. The ceramide portion contains variable fatty acid chain lengths, which are tissue- and pathology-dependent. Sulfatides are primarily found in the myelin sheath of oligodendrocytes and Schwann cells, with smaller chain lengths predominant during development and longer chain lengths predominant in mature cells.² They accumulate in the lysosomes of patients with metachromatic leukodystrophy, a disorder characterized by arylsulfatase A deficiency.^3,1 Sulfatides are also located in pancreatic β-cells and inhibit insulin release from isolated rat pancreatic islet cells, suggesting a potential role in diabetes.⁴ Sulfatides can induce inflammation in glia in vitro and certain sulfatides, such as C24:1 3’-sulfo-galactosylceramide, can induce an immune response in vitro in mouse splenocytes.^5,6 They also inhibit influenza A virus infection in vitro.⁷ Brain levels of sulfatides are decreased in patients with preclinical Alzheimer’s disease, and autoantibodies against sulfatide have been found in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with multiple sclerosis.^8,9 Intratumoral levels of sulfatide are positively correlated with increased tumor stage in patients with ovarian cancer.¹⁰ As this product is derived from a natural source, there may be variations in the sphingoid backbone. [Matreya, LLC. Catalog No. 1049]

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1. Takahashi, T., and Suzuki, T. Role of sulfatide in normal and pathological cells and tissues. J. Lipid Res. 53(8), 1437-1450 (2012).

2. Svennerholm, L., and Ställberg-Stenhagen, S. Changes in the fatty acid composition of cerebrosides and sulfatides of human nervous tissue with age. J. Lipid Res. 9(2), 215-225 (1968).

3. Saville, J.T., Smith, N.J.C., Fletcher, J.M., et al. Quantification of plasma sulfatides by mass spectrometry: Utility for metachromatic leukodystrophy. Anal. Chim. Acta 955, 79-85 (2017).

4. Buschard, K., Høy, M., Bokvist, K., et al. Sulfatide controls insulin secretion by modulation of ATP-sensitive K⁺-channel activity and Ca²⁺-dependent exocytosis in rat pancreatic β-cells. Diabetes 51(8), 2514-2521 (2002).

5. Jeon, S.-B., Yoon, H.J., Park, S.-H., et al. Sulfatide, a major lipid component of myelin sheath, activates inflammatory responses as an endogenous stimulator in brain-resident immune cells. J. Immunol. 181(11), 8077-8087 (2008).

6. Zajonc, D.M., Maricic, I., Wu, D., et al. Structural basis for CD1d presentation of a sulfatide derived from myelin and its implications for autoimmunity. J. Exp. Med. 202(11), 1517-1526 (2005).

7. Suzuki, T., Sometani, A., Yamazaki, Y., et al. Sulphatide binds to human and animal influenza A viruses, and inhibits the viral infection. Biochem. J. 318(Pt 2), 389-393 (1996).

8. Cheng, H., Wang, M., Li, J.-L., et al. Specific changes of sulfatide levels in individuals with preclinical Alzheimer’s disease: An early event in disease pathogenesis. J. Neurochem. 127(6), 733-738 (2013).

9. Ilyas, A.A., Chen, Z.-W., and Cook, S.D. Antibodies to sulfatide in cerebrospinal fluid of patients with multiple sclerosis. J. Neuroimmunol. 139(1-2), 76-80 (2003).

10. Makhlouf, A.M., Fathalla, M.M., Zakhary, M.A., et al. Sulfatides in ovarian tumors: Clinicopathological correlates. Int. J. Gynecol. Cancer 14(1), 89-93 (2004).