Gangliosides in blood serum of normal rats and Morris hepatoma 5123tc-bearing rats.

The effects of malignancy upon blood serum ganglioside patterns were investigated. Lipids extracted from the blood serum of Morris hepatoma 5123tc-bearing rats were characterized by severalfold increases in the content of hematosides, monosialogangliosides and disialogangliosides, as compared with lipids extracted from the serum of normal rats. However, the content of trisialogangliosides in lipids extracted from the serum of cancer-bearing rats substantially decreased. In general, the change in the profile of gangliosides in blood serum reflects, but is less pronounced, than that observed in the comparison of Morris hepatoma tissue to normal liver tissue.