USE OF N-ACETYLPSYCHOSINE AS INTERNAL STANDARD FOR QUANTITATIVE HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS OF GLYCOSPHINGOLIPIDS

The use of N-acetylpsychosine as an internal standard for the quantitative high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) of p-nitrobenzoyl derivatives of glycosphingolipids is described. It is suitable because the chromogen reacts on equimolar basis with both N-acetylpsychosine and sample glycosphingolipids. The use of N-acetylpsychosine as an internal standard was validated by determining the glycosphingolipid content of a system of metastatic variants selected from a murine fibrosarcoma line (T3 cells). Reproducible results were obtained throughout several quantitative analyses of cellular glycosphingolipids and it was possible to determine the glycosphingolipid content of as few as 5 . 10(6) cells.