Sphingolipids

Ceramides and sphingomyelins are composed of a sphingoid base and an N-acylated fatty acyl chain, which can vary in length. In mammalian cells, ceramides are generated with acyl tail lengths that fall into two categories:

• Long Chain Sphingolipids: These have acyl tails of 14–18 carbons.


• Very Long Chain (VLC) Sphingolipids: These have acyl tails of 20 or more carbons.
  These sphingolipids can be either saturated (having no double bonds) or mono-unsaturated (having one double bond).

York et al. 2024 Nature 627: 628-635

Sphingolipid species with saturated and mono-unsaturated acyl tails ranging from 16 to 24 carbons are in macrophage samples. There are notable differences between wild-type and Il10-KO macrophages:

• In activated Il10-KO macrophages, there was an increase in all species of ceramides and hexosyl ceramides compared to their wild-type counterparts.


• Conversely, all unsaturated sphingomyelins and several saturated sphingomyelins were decreased in the Il10-KO macrophages.

York et al. 2024 Nature 627: 628-635

Sphingolipids are ubiquitous in eukaryotic cells but not present in most bacteria
Zou et al. 2019b Nat Biotechnol 37: 179-185

Sphingolipids play multiple roles in the healthy gut, including 1) as structural components of intestinal cell membranes and 2) as signaling molecules involved in cell fate decisions
Abdel Hadi et al. 2016 Cell 165: 132

Membrane sphingolipids are essential molecular signals for the survival of Bacteroides in the intestine and to perform other functions related to symbiosis
An et al. 2011 Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 108(Suppl. 1): 4666–4671

see also:
Crohn's disease (CD) & Sphingolipids
Colitis / Intestinal Inflammation & Interleukin-10 (IL-10)
Colitis / Intestinal Inflammation & Interleukin-10 (IL-10) deficient mice
Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) & Sphingolipids