Fig. 10.

The molecular species of sphingolipids change dramatically over time and differ between total brain and isolated oligodendrocytes in the postnatal rat brain. Membranes prepared from total brain (A, D, G) or isolated oligodendrocytes (B, C, E, F, H) just prior to myelination (postnatal day 2), early in myelination (day 9 for total brain, day 8 for oligodendrocytes), and during peak myelination (day 15 in brain, day 16 in oligodendrocytes) were analyzed by MS. For clarity, only the major molecular species (with some exceptions noted in the Results) are shown. Ceramides (A, B), SMs (D–E), total hexosylceramides (G), GluCers (H), GalCers (C), and sulfatides (F). For total brain n = 5; for oligodendrocytes, single samples from oligodendrocytes isolated from 20 pups are shown. For brain fractions, mean ± standard deviation is shown.