A galactosylceramide, or galactocerebroside is a type of cerebroside consisting of a ceramide with a galactose residue at the 1-hydroxyl moiety.
The galactose is cleaved by galactosylceramidase.
Galactosylceramide is a marker for oligodendrocytes in the brain, whether or not they form myelin.[1][2]
- ^ Raff, Martin C.; Mirsky, Rhona; Fields, K. L.; Lisak, Robert P.; Dorfman, Susan H.; Silberberg, Donald H.; Gregson, N. A.; Leibowitz, Sidney; Kennedy, Mary C. (1978). "Galactocerebroside is a specific cell-surface antigenic marker for oligodendrocytes in culture". Nature. 274 (5673): 813–816. doi:10.1038/274813a0. PMID 355894.
- ^ Jessen, K. R.; Morgan, L.; Brammer, M.; Mirsky, R. (1985). "Galactocerebroside is expressed by non-myelin-forming Schwann cells in situ". The Journal of Cell Biology. 101 (3): 1135–1143. doi:10.1083/jcb.101.3.1135. PMC 2113740. PMID 3897245.