Analysis of Ganglioside Molecular Species Focusing on Ceramide Structures Using Thin-Layer Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry.

Thin-layer chromatography is widely used for the analysis of glycolipids and phospholipids. Typically, after separation with various solvents, molecular species are identified by chemical detection or immunostaining. This chapter describes a method for structural analysis of molecules by directly performing mass spectrometry after chromatographic separation. We introduce a classical ganglioside analysis method and a technique for structure analysis of separated lipids using a robotic ion source for direct MS analysis.