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. 2015 May;120(2):104-12.
doi: 10.3109/03009734.2015.1027429. Epub 2015 Apr 28.

Gunnar Blix and his discovery of sialic acids. Fascinating molecules in glycobiology

Arne Lundblad  1
Affiliations

Gunnar Blix and his discovery of sialic acids. Fascinating molecules in glycobiology

Arne Lundblad. Ups J Med Sci. 2015 May.
No abstract available

Keywords: Glycoprotein; glycolipid; sialic acid.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Gunnar Blix in 1970.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Four generations of professors in Medical and Physiological Chemistry. Sitting from left: Carl Thore Mörner, Sven Gustaf Hedin, Olof Hammarsten. Standing: Gunnar Blix (1930).
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
‘Gamla Kemikum’, later called Philologicum.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
The Departments of Medical Chemistry and Pharmacology, located at Stockholmsvägen 19 (later named Dag Hammarskjölds väg).
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Structure of a galactocerebroside (today usually called galactosphingolipid). In sulfatides the R at carbon 3 in galactose is a sulfate group. A glycosphingolipid containing sialic acid in the carbohydrate unit of the cerebroside is named ganglioside.
Figure 6.
Figure 6.
Mixed crystals of sialic acid isolated from bovine submaxillary mucin by Blix in 1936 (4) (left) and crystals of N-acetylneuraminic acid isolated by Svennerholm in 1956 (5) (right).
Figure 7.
Figure 7.
Structures of N-acetylneuraminic acid (Neu5Ac), N-glycolylneuraminic acid (Neu5Gc), and 2-keto-3-deoxynononic acid (Kdn).
Figure 8.
Figure 8.
Structure of sialylated Lewis X. A tetrasaccharide linked to a galactose unit in either glycoproteins or glycolipids. (The formula is: Neu5Ac-α(2,3)Galβ(1,4)(Fuc-α1,3)-GlcNAc).
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References

    1. Blix G. Zur kenntnis der schwefelhaltigen Lipoidstoffe des Gehirns. Über Cerebronschwefelsäure. Z Physiol Chem. 1933;219:82–98.
    1. Blix G, Tiselius A, Svensson H. Lipids and polysaccharides in electrophoretically separated blood serum proteins. J Biol Chem. 1941;137:485–94.
    1. Blix G. Über die Kohlenhydratgruppen des Submaxillaris mucins. Z Physiol Chem. 1936;240:43–54.
    1. Blix G. Sialic acids. Proc Intern Congr Biochem 4th Vienna. 1958;1:94–106.
    1. Svennerholm L. On the isolation and characterization of N-acetyl-sialic acid . Acta Soc Med Upsalien. 1956;61:75–85. - PubMed

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