Ganglioside Composition in Beef, Chicken, Pork, and Fish Determined Using Liquid Chromatography High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry

Gangliosides (GA) are found in animal tissues and fluids, such as blood and milk These sialo-glycosphingolipids have bioactivities in neural development, the gastrointestinal tract, and the immune system. In this study, a high-performance liquid chromatography mass-spectrometry (HPLC-MS) method was validated to characterize and quantitate the GA in beef, chicken, pork, and fish species (turbot, snapper, king salmon; and island mackerel). For the first time, we report the concentration of GM(3), the dominant GA in these foods, as ranging from 0.35 to 1.1 mg/100 g and 0.70 to 5.86 mg/100 g of meat and fish, respectively. The minor GAs measured were GD(3), GD(1a), GD(1b), and GT(1b). Molecular species distribution revealed that the GA contained long- to very-long-chain acyl fatty acids attached to the ceramide moiety. Fish GA contained only N-acetylneuraminic acid (NeuAc) sialic acid, while beef, chicken, and pork contained GD(1a/)b, species that incorporated both NeuAc and N-glycolylneuraminic acid (NeuGc) and hydroxylated fatty acids.