A novel role for sphingolipid metabolism in oxidant-mediated skeletal muscle fatigue. Focus on 'Sphingomyelinase stimulates oxidant signaling to weaken skeletal muscle and promote fatigue'

摘要

sphingolipids are a chemically diverse group of biological lipids typified by a sphingoid base backbone derived from condensation of a fatty acyl-CoA to an amino acid (typically, but not always, serine) (24, 27). These lipids occur throughout eukaryotic species, thus reflecting their fundamental significance in cell biology. A series of studies in the late 1980s by Hannun, Bell, Merrill, and others demonstrated that sphingolipids inhibited protein kinase C, a finding that elevated the appreciation of this lipid class from relatively inert membrane constituents to molecules that participate in signaling and cell regulation (10-13, 21, 22). Efforts directed toward dissecting sphingolipid metabolism and functions in subsequent years revealed a complex and dynamic cellular metabolic network regulated in response to external signals including hormones, cytokines, nutrient deprivation, thermal stress, irradiation, che-motherapeutic agents, and many other stimuli (for review, see Refs. 14 and 18).