The fatty acid composition of sphingolipids from bovine CNS axons and myelin

Ceramide synthesis in the epidermis

The epidermis and in particular its outermost layer the stratum corneum provides terrestrial vertebrates with a pivotal defensive barrier against water loss, xenobiotics and harmful pathogens. A vital demand for this epidermal permeability barrier is the lipid-enriched lamellar matrix that embeds the enucleated corneocytes. Ceramides are the major components of these highly ordered intercellular lamellar structures, in which linoleic acid- and protein-esterified ceramides are crucial for structuring and maintaining skin barrier integrity. In this review, we describe the fascinating diversity of epidermal ceramides including 1-O-acylceramides. We focus on epidermal ceramide biosynthesis emphasizing its metabolic and topological requirements and discuss enzymes that may be involved in α- and ω-hydroxylation. Finally, we turn to epidermal ceramide regulation, highlighting transcription factors and liposensors recently described to play crucial roles in modulating skin lipid metabolism and epidermal barrier homeostasis. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled The Important Role of Lipids in the Epidermis and their Role in the Formation and Maintenance of the Cutaneous Barrier.

Skin ceramide alterations in first-episode schizophrenia indicate abnormal sphingolipid metabolism

There is considerable evidence for specific pathology of lipid metabolism in schizophrenia, affecting polyunsaturated fatty acids and in particular sphingolipids. These deficits are assumed to interfere with neuronal membrane functioning and the development and maintenance of myelin sheaths. Recent studies suggest that some of these lipid pathologies might also be detected in peripheral skin tests. In this study, we examined different skin lipids and their relation to schizophrenia. We assessed epidermal lipid profiles in 22 first-episode antipsychotic-naïve schizophrenia patients and 22 healthy controls matched for age and gender using a hexan/ethanol extraction technique and combined high-performance thin-layer chromatography/gas-chromatography. We found highly significant increase of ceramide AH and NH/AS classes in patients and decrease of EOS and NP ceramide classes. This is the first demonstration of specific peripheral sphingolipid alterations in schizophrenia. The results support recent models of systemic lipid pathology and in particular of specific sphingolipids, which are crucial in neuronal membrane integrity. Given recent findings showing amelioration of psychopathology using fatty acid supplementation, our findings also bear relevance for sphingolipids as potential biomarkers of the disease.

Close encounters of the oily kind: regulation of transporters by lipids

Neurotransmitter transporters are membrane proteins that serve as key regulators of extracellular neurotransmitter concentrations and have been long viewed as important targets for drug development by the pharmaceutical industry. Although many cellular signaling systems are known to modulate transport activity, much less is known about how transporters communicate with and are regulated by the various components of the lipid sea in which they reside. Variations in lipid content clearly affect the activity of a variety of transport systems, and with advances in techniques for lipid analysis and a clearer vision of carrier structure, this area of research appears poised for major advances.

Composition-driven surface domain structuring mediated by sphingolipids and membrane-active proteins. Above the nano- but under the micro-scale: mesoscopic biochemical/structural cross-talk in biomembranes

Biomembranes contain a wide variety of lipids and proteins within an essentially two-dimensional structure. The coexistence of such a large number of molecular species causes local tensions that frequently relax into a phase or compositional immiscibility along the lateral and transverse planes of the interface. As a consequence, a substantial microheterogeneity of the surface topography develops and that depends not only on the lipid-protein composition, but also on the lateral and transverse tensions generated as a consequence of molecular interactions. The presence of proteins, and immiscibility among lipids, constitute major perturbing factors for the membrane sculpturing both in terms of its surface topography and dynamics. In this work, we will summarize some recent evidences for the involvement of membrane-associated, both extrinsic and amphitropic, proteins as well as membrane-active phosphohydrolytic enzymes and sphingolipids in driving lateral segregation of phase domains thus determining long-range surface topography.

Biophysics of sphingolipids II. Glycosphingolipids: An assortment of multiple structural information transducers at the membrane surface

Glycosphingolipids are ubiquitous components of animal cell membranes. They are constituted by the basic structure of ceramide with its hydroxyl group linked to single carbohydrates or oligosaccharide chains of different complexity. The combination of the properties of their hydrocarbon moiety with those derived from the variety and complexity of their hydrophilic polar head groups confers to these lipids an extraordinary capacity for molecular-to-supramolecular transduction across the lateral/transverse planes in biomembranes and beyond. In our opinion, most of the advances made over the last decade on the biophysical behavior of glycosphingolipids can be organized into three related aspects of increasing structural complexity: (1) intrinsic codes: local molecular interactions of glycosphingolipids translated into structural self-organization. (2) Surface topography: projection of molecular shape and miscibility of glycosphingolipids into formation of coexisting membrane domains. (3) Beyond the membrane interface: glycosphingolipid as modulators of structural topology, bilayer recombination and surface biocatalysis.

Characterization of a novel brain neutral glycosphingolipid composition in house musk shrew (Suncus murinus)

Glycosphingolipids were extracted from the brain of house musk shrew (Suncus murinus). Neutral glycosphingolipids were purified by QAE-Sephadex column chromatography followed by high-performance liquid chromatography using an Iatrobeads column. Purified glycosphingolipids were identified by high-performance thin-layer chromatography, carbohydrate analysis, fast-atom bombardment mass spectrometry and TLC immunostaining. The ganglioside pattern was almost the same as the pattern obtained for rat brain gangliosides. The brain of S. murinus, however, was unique in its neutral glycosphingolipid composition; it contained gangliotriaosylceramide and gangliotetraosylceramide as the major neutral glycosphingolipids in addition to monohexosylceramides. Mass spectroscopy analysis showed that C18:1 sphingosine and C24:0 normal fatty acids were the major ceramide constituents in the glycosphingolipis, except in the case where a slower-migrating monohexosylceramide that contained C24 h:0 hydroxy fatty acids was observed. A day after birth, monohexosylceramide contained only normal fatty acids. The amounts of hydroxy-fatty-acid-containing monohexosylceramide increased rapidly as the age of the animals increased, and the ratio of these two kinds of monohexosylceramides was reversed within five weeks. Monohexosylceramide, ganglioside, and sulfatide contents in bulbus olfactorius were almost equal in amount in contrast to the glycolipids in the cerebrum and cerebellum that contained monohexosylceramide as the major constituent. The amount of monohexosylceramide in the bulbus olfactorius was 0.3-0.4 times the values obtained for the cerebrum and cerebellum.

Very long chain fatty acids in higher animals--a review

Fatty acids with greater than 22 carbon atoms (very long chain fatty acids, VLCFA) are present in small amounts in most animal tissues. Saturated and monoenoic VLCFA are major components of brain, while the polyenoic VLCFA occur in significant amounts in certain specialized animal tissues such as retina and spermatozoa. Biosynthesis of VLCFA occurs by carbon chain elongation of shorter chain fatty acid precursors while beta-oxidation takes place almost exclusively in peroxisomes. Mitochondria are unable to oxidize VLCFA because they lack a specific VLCFA coenzyme A synthetase, the first enzyme in the beta-oxidation pathway. VLCFA accumulate in the tissues of patients with inherited abnormalities in peroxisomal assembly, and also in individuals with defects in enzymes catalyzing individual reactions along the beta-oxidation pathway. It is believed that the accumulation of VLCFA in patient tissues contributes to the severe pathological changes which are a feature of these conditions. However, little is known of the role of VLCFA in normal cellular processes, and of the molecular basis for their contribution to the disease process. The present review provides an outline of the current knowledge of VLCFA including their biosynthesis, degradation, possible function and involvement in human disease.

Bilayer packing characteristics of mixed chain phospholipid derivatives: Raman spectroscopic and differential scanning calorimetric studies of 1-stearoyl-2-capryl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (C(18):C(10)PC) and 1-stearoyl-2-capryl-sn-glycero-3-phospho-N-trimethylpropanolamine (C(18):C(10)TMPC)

Raman spectroscopy and high-sensitivity differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) were used to compare the effects of headgroup conformation on the acyl chain packing arrangements in two highly asymmetric phosphatidylcholine (PC) analogues, 1-stearoyl-2-capryl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (C(18):C(10)PC) and a polar headgroup derivative of C(18):C(10)PC, 1-stearoyl-2-capryl-sn-glycero-3-phospho-N-trimethylpropanolami ne (C(18):C(10)TMPC), which contains an additional methylene group within the choline moiety; namely, -P-O-(CH2)3-N(CH3)3. The C(18):C(10)TMPC headgroup exhibits an extended trans conformation which is independent of bilayer phase. A comparison of gel phase spectral order parameters of the two lipid species indicates a mixed interdigitated state characteristic of three chains per headgroup for C(18): C(10)TMPC. A more intermolecularly ordered liquid crystalline phase is observed, however, for the C(18):C(10)TMPC bilayers. The phase transition cooperative unit size estimated for the C(18):C(10)PC bilayers (approximately 140 molecules per unit) is about 7-fold greater than that for the C(18):C(10)TMPC dispersions (approximately 20 molecules per unit). We suggest that the extended headgroup for C(18):C(10)TMPC induces a slight tilt in the gel phase packing arrangements for the acyl chains, which may persist in the partially interdigitated liquid crystalline phase bilayer. Macroscopically, tighter packed multilamellar dispersions of C(18):C(10)TMPC occur for systems prepared first in the presence of a higher ionic strength medium. The stacked bilayers may then be transferred to a lower ionic strength environment without loss of their more closely packed adjacent lamellae.

Simplified derivatization for determining sphingolipid fatty acyl composition by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

A simple procedure for simultaneously derivatizing non-hydroxy and hydroxy fatty acids prior to GC analysis [I. Ciucanu and F. Kerek, J. Chromatogr., 284 (1984) 179] has been evaluated for its usefulness in determining sphingolipid acyl composition. The method uses methyl iodide in polar aprotic solvents to generate methyl esters of carboxyl groups and methyl ethers of hydroxyl groups. Methylation efficiency is examined as a function of hydroxyl group presence and location in free fatty acids as well as a function of 2-hydroxy fatty acid chain length. Conditions are also reported for efficient saponification and derivatization of sphingolipid fatty acyl chains as is illustrated using bovine brain galactosylceramide.

A calorimetric study of the thermotropic behaviour of mixtures of brain cerebrosides with other brain lipids

We have used a computer-controlled differential scanning calorimeter to determine the phases present in mixtures of the brain galactocerebrosides with other representative brain lipids. There are two types of brain galactocerebroside, those which possess an alpha-hydroxy substituent on the acyl chain (HFA) and those that do not (NFA). In the liquid crystalline state both cerebrosides were miscible with all the lipids studied, but in the gel state they were immiscible with cholesterol and the brain phosphatidylcholines. However, cholesterol mixtures in which the cholesterol mole fraction exceeded one third formed homogeneous metastable gel states on cooling from above the melting point of the cerebroside. Relaxation to the stable two phase state took place slowly over several hours. The solubilities of the galactocerebrosides in the other main brain sphingolipid, sphingomyelin, were much higher. Only in the case of the NFA galactocerebroside and at low mole fractions of sphingomyelin was immiscibility detected. Ternary mixtures of the two cerebrosides with sphingomyelin/cholesterol and phosphatidylcholine/cholesterol (PC/Chol) showed different miscibility characteristics. On cooling from 80 degrees C all mixtures formed homogeneous gel states. However, on standing the cerebrosides separated into discrete gel phases in all mixtures but one, that in which HFA galactocerebrosides were mixed with sphingomyelin and cholesterol. The cerebroside in the mixture with the composition closest to that of myelin, HFA/PC/Chol, melted at 38 degrees C. On scanning guinea pig CNS myelin which had been equilibrated at 5 degrees C a transition was detected with Tmax 33 degrees C. On the basis of comparison with the HFA/PC/Chol mixture we propose that the transition in myelin at this temperature is due to the melting of a galactocerebroside gel phase.

The properties of brain galactocerebroside monolayers

Using a Langmuir film balance we have compared the properties of films of the brain galactocerebrosides at 37 degrees C. There are two types of cerebroside in brain, those with an alpha-hydroxy substituent on the acyl chain (HFA) and those without (NFA). At equivalent pressures the areas of both cerebroside films are significantly less than the areas of films of the brain glycerolipids, the choline and ethanolamine phosphatides. The isotherm of NFA galactocerebrosides has two discontinuities, one at low and one at high film pressure, while the isotherm of HFA galactocerebrosides is a smooth curve at all film pressures. Below the high-pressure transition the area of the NFA film is significantly larger than the area of the HFA film. When compressed beyond the high-pressure transition there is a marked hysteresis between compression and expansion isotherms of the NFA galactocerebrosides. The pressures of both films continue to rise steeply when they are compressed into areas which are too small for them to exist as simple monolayers. We conclude that under compression cerebroside films form bilayer structures; that bilayer formation starts at low pressure and occurs progressively as the HFA cerebroside monolayer is compressed, but occurs more abruptly in the NFA cerebroside monolayer at the high-pressure-transition region of the isotherm. A study of pure cerebrosides with a single defined acyl chain shows that there is a correlation between the relative volumes of the hydrophobic and hydrophilic parts of the molecule and the ease of bilayer formation. The larger the relative volume of the hydrophilic group the more readily the cerebroside forms a bilayer film. Other brain lipids added to cerebroside monolayers have sharply differing effects on their areas. The areas of films containing cholesterol are less than the areas calculated by adding the areas of the pure components multiplied by their mole fractions. On the other hand, the area of phosphatidylcholine-containing films is much larger than calculated.

Remodeling and sorting process of ethanolamine and choline glycerophospholipids during their axonal transport in the rabbit optic pathway

The existence of a mechanism by which the ester- and ether-linked aliphatic chains of the major phospholipids are retailored during their axonal transport and sorted to specific membrane systems along the optic nerve and tract was investigated. A mixture of [1-14C]hexadecanol and [3H]arachidonic acid was injected into the vitreous body of albino rabbits. At 24 h and 8 days later, the distribution (as measured by the 3H/14C ratio) and the positioning (as monitored by hydrolytic procedures) of radioactivity in the various phospholipid classes of retina, purified axons, and myelin of the optic nerve and tract were determined. At the two intervals after labeling, the 3H/14C ratios of each diradyl type of phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylcholine were (a) substantially unchanged all along the axons within the optic nerve and tract and (b) markedly modified in comparison with those found in the retina and axons for molecular species selectively restricted to myelin sheath. Evidence is thus available that intraxonally moving ethanolamine and choline glycerophospholipids, among others, are added to axonal membranes most likely without extensive modifications. In contrast, they are transferred into myelin after retailoring. Through these two processes, the sorting and targeting of newly synthesized phospholipids to their correct membrane domains, such as axoplasmic organelles, axolemma, or periaxonal myelin, could be controlled.

Lipids of nervous tissue: composition and metabolism

As indicated in the Introduction, the many significant developments in the recent past in our knowledge of the lipids of the nervous system have been collated in this article. That there is a sustained interest in this field is evident from the rather long bibliography which is itself selective. Obviously, it is not possible to summarize a review in which the chemistry, distribution and metabolism of a great variety of lipids have been discussed. However, from the progress of research, some general conclusions may be drawn. The period of discovery of new lipids in the nervous system appears to be over. All the major lipid components have been discovered and a great deal is now known about their structure and metabolism. Analytical data on the lipid composition of the CNS are available for a number of species and such data on the major areas of the brain are also at hand but information on the various subregions is meagre. Such investigations may yet provide clues to the role of lipids in brain function. Compared to CNS, information on PNS is less adequate. Further research on PNS would be worthwhile as it is amenable for experimental manipulation and complex mechanisms such as myelination can be investigated in this tissue. There are reports correlating lipid constituents with the increased complexity in the organization of the nervous system during evolution. This line of investigation may prove useful. The basic aim of research on the lipids of the nervous tissue is to unravel their functional significance. Most of the hydrophobic moieties of the nervous tissue lipids are comprised of very long chain, highly unsaturated and in some cases hydroxylated residues, and recent studies have shown that each lipid class contains characteristic molecular species. Their contribution to the properties of neural membranes such as excitability remains to be elucidated. Similarly, a large proportion of the phospholipid molecules in the myelin membrane are ethanolamine plasmalogens and their importance in this membrane is not known. It is firmly established that phosphatidylinositol and possibly polyphosphoinositides are involved with events at the synapse during impulse propagation, but their precise role in molecular terms is not clear. Gangliosides, with their structural complexity and amphipathic nature, have been implicated in a number of biological events which include cellular recognition and acting as adjuncts at receptor sites. More recently, growth promoting and neuritogenic functions have been ascribed to gangliosides. These interesting properties of gangliosides wIll undoubtedly attract greater attention in the future.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

The subcellular localization of lipid in myelin-free axonal preparations

Bovine myelin-free axonal preparations were subjected to a series of washes designed to partition membranes from other cellular components initially present in these preparations. These washes were composed entirely of membranous structures, essentially free of neurofilament protein subunits, and contained high specific activity of acetylcholinesterase, an axolemma-specific enzyme. The distribution of acetylcholinesterase in the washes paralleled the distribution of lipid and the lipid composition of these washes closely resembled that of bovine axolemma-enriched fractions. In addition, acetylcholinesterase, lipid and galactocerebroside were histo- and immunohistochemically localized on similar structures in the starting material. Our results demonstrate that some of the lipid in myelin-free axonal preparations may be accounted for by axolemma.

A change in the cerebrosides and sulfatides in a demyelinating nervous system. Development of the methodology and study of multiple sclerosis and Wallerian degeneration

This report described a new method for the microanalysis of sphingolipids and its application for the characterization of cerebrosides and sulfatides in multiple sclerosis brain and rat sciatic nerves undergoing Wallerian degeneration. Tissue was extracted with isopropanol/hexane (20:78), and the total lipids obtained were subjected to benzoylation-desulfation. A portion of this was directly analyzed by silica-column high performance liquid chromatography for the determination of nonhydroxycerebroside, hydroxycerebroside, nonhydroxysulfatide, and hydroxysulfatide. Another portion was fractionated by thin-layer chromatography, and the spots corresponding to the sphingolipid derivatives were eluted. The material from each spot was analyzed by reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography for its homolog composition. With this new procedure the concentrations and homolog compositions of cerebrosides and sulfatides were measured in plaque, periplaque, and normal-appearing white matter from brains of multiple sclerosis patients and Wallerian degenerated rat sciatic nerves distal to the nerve transection. One piece of plaque studied contained only 1.86, 2.76, 0.60, and 0.45 nmol of nonhydroxycerebroside, hydroxycerebroside, nonhydroxysulfatide and hydroxysulfatide/mg of protein, respectively. These concentrations are less than 1% of those found in normal white matter. Periplaques were found to contain concentrations of these sphingolipids between those of plaque and normal white matter. The levels of these sphingolipids in degenerative nerves were 10-20% below normal the third day after the nerve was severed and about 70% below normal after 10 days. The rate of decrease lessened from ten days to 55 days. The homolog compositions of these sphingolipids in both multiple sclerosis brain and degenerating nerves were similar to those in the control. The implications of these findings and the advantages of this new analytical method are discussed.

Axonal transport of phospholipids in rabbit optic pathway

The uptake of different labeled precursors, their incorporation into lipids, and transport along the rabbit optic pathway [ipsilateral retina and optic nerve (ON), and contralateral optic tract (OT), lateral geniculate body (LGB), and superior colliculus (SC)] were investigated. Albino rabbits were used. The following radioactive precursors ,either combined or separately, dissolved in 50 microliter of saline containing 15% BSA, were injected into vitreous body: [2-3H]glycerol (50 microCi), [1-14C]palmitate (15 microCi), and [1-14C]linoleate (7.5 microCi). Animals were killed at different time intervals from 1 hr up to 24 days. The radioactivity of total lipids and of different phospholipid classes from total tissue was measured. One hour after administration of precursors, the radioactivity into the retina was high and the incorporation of [3H]glycerol and [14C]palmitate increased until 12 hr and 24 hr, respectively. The incorporation of [14C]linoleate reached a maximum on the second day. The phospholipids of LGB and SC were intensively labeled after 4-8 hr, and their radioactivity increased up to the 10th day after injection, independent of the precursor employed. The results obtained indicate that the labeled hydrophilic and hydrophobic precursors used were actively incorporated into the retina, The phospholipids were later transported at a rapid rate along the optic pathway.

Molecular conformations of cerebrosides in bilayers determined by Raman spectroscopy

Vibrational Raman spectra of the solid and gel phases of bovine brain cerebrosides and the component fractions, kerasin and phrenosin, provide conformational information for these glycosphingolipids in bilayer systems. The carbon-carbon stretching mode profiles (1,150-1,000 cm-1) indicate that at 22 degrees C the alkyl chains assume an almost all-trans arrangement. These spectral data, combined with those from the C-H stretching region (3,050-2,800 cm-1), show that phrenosin forms the most highly ordered polycrystalline solid and kerasin the most ordered gel phase. The conformation of the unsaturated, 24-carbon acyl chains is monitored independently by a skeletal stretching mode at 1,112 cm-1. The alkyl chains in the kerasin and phrenosin gels are sufficiently extended to allow interdigitation of the 24-carbon acyl chains across the midplane of the bilayer. The amide I vibrational mode occurs at a lower frequency in solid phrenosin than kerasin, a shift consistent with stronger hydrogen bounding. This band is broadened and shifted to higher frequencies, however, in the phrenosin gel phase. In both the solid and gel phases natural cerebroside exhibits a composite amide I mode. The disruptive effects on cerebroside chain packing and headgroup orientation arising from mixing with dimyristoyl phosphatidylcholine are examined. Vibrational data for cerebroside are also compared to those for ceramide, sphingosine, and distearoyl phosphatidylcholine structures. Spectral interpretations are discussed in terms of calorimetric and X-ray structural data.

The lipid composition of isolated brain cells and axons

The current status of the published work on the lipid composition of isolated brain cells is reviewed and some new work on the sphingolipids of these cells is presented. In spite of considerable differences in isolation techniques between different groups, the lipid analyses of different cell preparations are similar enough to permit several generalizations. This fact is an encouraging sign that cell separation methods have considerable usefulness in defining the composition of normal brain cells. It is a general finding that astrocytes have more lipid than neuronal perikarya but that the gross lipid composition of these two cell types is surprisingly similar. Oligodendroglial lipids are quite different from those of the other two cell types and are characterized by a high galactolipid content. Although such a lipid pattern might be expected in oligodendroglia, which are myelin-forming cells, axonal lipids have an even higher galactolipid content. In an effort to find more cell-specific patterns, the glycosphingolipids were examined in more detail. Differences were seen in the distribution and fatty-acid patterns of these minor lipids in neurons and astrocytes, although it may be premature to conclude that these differences will prove to be cell-specific. All of the isolated cells were found to contain galactosylceramide, sulfatide, glucosylceramide, dihexosylceramide, and gangliosides. The distribution of these lipids in the normal cells was found to differ considerably from that reported in cultured neuroblastoma cells or astrocytoma cells. Not only were gangliosides present in all cells but the ganglioside patterns of neurons and astrocytes were nearly identical. The fatty-acid patterns of the neuronal and astroglial sphingolipids generally do not resemble each other, and both are quite different from those found in oligodendroglia and axons. However, the fatty-acid composition of the sphingolipids from bovine oligodendroglia and from axons are similar and resemble those of myelin lipids. The fatty acids of glucosylceramide and dihexosylceramide are similar in all three cell types. They have rather large amounts of 16:0 and acids longer than C18; thus they are considerably different from the ganglioside fatty acids (which have mostly 15:0) isolated from the same fractions.