Figure 1. Chemical structures of sphingolipids.

Sphingolipids are composed of a sphingosine or dihrydrosphingosine backbone (marked in blue). N-acylation (red) of the sphingoid backbone generates (dihydro)ceramide and derivatives. Complex sphingolipids are generated by the addition of head groups (black) to ceramide. Sphingomyelin contains a phosphocholine head group; glucosylceramide and galactosylceramide contain a single glucose or galactose molecule, respectively, whereas ceramide-1-phosphate consists of a phosphate head group linked to ceramide.