Cerebroside

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cerebrosides are glycosphingolipids which are important components in animal muscle and nerve cell membranes. They consist of a ceramide with a single sugar residue at the 1-hydroxyl moiety. The sugar residue can be either glucose or galactose; the two major types are therefore called glucocerebrosides and galactocerebrosides.

[edit] Role in disease

A defect in the degradation of glucocerebrosides is Gaucher's disease. The corresponding defect for galactocerebrosides is Krabbe disease.