Figure 4.

Ceramide inhibits integrin-mediated cell adhesion to and spreading on extracellular matrices. The same number of HeLa cells treated with D-e-Cer (2.5 μM) or vehicle control for 16 h as described in Figure 1 was plated onto six-well plates coated with fibronectin (10 μg/ml) and laminin (20 μg/ml) and incubated at 37°C for 45 min. (A) After removal of nonadherent cells by wash with PBS, the number of adherent cells was determined as described under Materials and Methods. (B) Cell morphology was assessed by microscopic analyses. Data represent mean value ± SD of three independent experiments performed in duplicate. This figure is representative of at least three independent experiments.