Fig. 1.
Levels of ceramides and cholesterol increase in the brain during normal aging. (A and B) Representative electrospray tandem MS spectrograms showing relative levels of different ceramides in samples of cerebral cortex from a 3-month-old (A) and a 25-month-old (B) mouse. (C) Levels of sphingomyelin C24:0, ceramide C24:0, galactosyl-ceramide, and free cholesterol in samples of cerebral cortex from 3-, 6-, and 25-month-old mice. Values are the mean and SEM (five mice of each age). *, P < 0.01 compared with the value for 3-month-old mice. ##, P < 0.01 compared with the value for 6-month-old mice and P < 0.001 compared with the value for 3-month-old mice.