Sphingosine is a characteristic structural unit of many sphingolipids such as ceramides, gangliosides, globosides, sulfatides, sphingomyelin, and others.1 It is most abundant in nervous tissue and cell membranes. Sphingosine with an 18-carbon chain and a double bond at carbon 4 is the most abundant sphingosine in animal tissues. D-erythro-C12-sphingosine is a shortchain analog of natural sphingosine that exhibits different cellular effects from the long-chain sphingosines. This shorter long chain base is considerably less hydrophobic which could significantly change the process of signal transduction.2 Lysosphingolipids (such as sphingosine) inhibit protein kinase C activity resulting in the pathogenesis of sphingolipidoses such as Krabbe's disease and Gaucher's disease but short-chain C12-sphingosine does not demonstrate this inhibitory action.3 Sphingosine can be phosphorylated via two kinases to form sphingosine-1-phosphate, which has important signaling functions. While sphingosines and ceramides can induce apoptosis,4 sphingosine-1-phosphate can promote cell survival or proliferation. Sphingosine has been shown to cause an increase in the cytoplasmic calcium level of cells.
