Sphingomyelins membrane potentials

While the main thrust of this book remains centered on the phosphorus-containing lipids of mammalian cell membrane, it would be remiss on the author s part not to discuss the sphingogiycolipids. These phosphorus-free, sphingosine-containing lipids coexist with the phospholipids in cellular membranes. In place of a phosphocholine moiety (as in sphingomyelin), a carbohydrate is substituted. These complex lipids were found to be present in significant amounts in brain some 60 years ago, and their potential association with... 

Barenholz, Y. (2004), Sphingomyelin and cholesterol From membrane biophysics and rafts to potential medical applications, Subcell. Biochem., 37,167-215. 

The downstream targets of ceramide that are involved in apoptosis remain to be identified. A few potential targets have, however, been described. In A431 cells, Davis and co-workers showed that sphingomyelin induced phosphorylation of the epidermal growth factor receptor at a specific site, Thr 669 (Davis et al., 1988 Faucher et al., 1988 Countaway et al., 1989). This led to the description of a membrane-bound, Ca -independent protein kinase that is stimulated by ceramide (Mathias et al., 1991). Conversely, Hannun and co-workers have demonstrated that ceramide activates a member of the the heterotrimeric protein phosphatase 2A family in rat T9 glioma cells and have coined the term ceramide-activated protein phosphatase (CAPP) for this activity (Dobrowsky and Hannun,... 

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