Function and Structure Analysis of Glycolipid Microdomains

Glycosphingolipids are not uniformly present in cell membranes and form microdomains called glycolipid microdomains together with sphingomyelin and cholesterol. Many signaling molecules accumulate there, and glycolipid composition greatly influences signal transmission efficiency. Therefore, analyzing the dynamics and structure of glycolipid microdomains is very important in understanding life phenomena. In recent glycolipid microdomain studies, along with biochemical methods, analysis of membrane molecular dynamics by fluorescence microscopy, localization analysis using an electron microscope, and lipid structure analysis by mass spectrometry have been conducted. In this review, I mainly introduce the glycolipid microdomain analysis method using fluorescence microscopy and mass spectrometry.