Figure 1.

Sphingolipid metabolism. Central to sphingolipid metabolism is ceramide, which can be generated de novo and is used as a building block for complex sphingolipids. It can also be phosphorylated or further metabolized into sphingosine-1-phosphate. See text for more details. Abbreviations: SPT = serine palmityoltransferase; CerS = ceramide synthase; DEGS = dihydroceramide desaturase; SMS = sphingomyelin synthase; SMase = sphingomyelinase; GCS = glucosylceramide synthase; CDase = ceramidase; CK = ceramide kinase.