Sphingomyelin, a sphingosine-based phospholipid, is found in cell membranes and in the myelin sheath. The synthesis of sphingomyelin is shown in Figure 17.10. Briefly, palmitoyl CoA condenses with serine, as CoA and the carboxyl group (as CO2) of serine are lost. [Note: This reaction, like the decarboxylation reactions involved in the synthesis of PE from PS and of regulators from amino acids (for example, the catecholamines from tyrosine; see p. 286), requires pyridoxal phosphate (a derivative of vitamin B6) as a coenzyme.] The product is reduced in a nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH)-requiring reaction to sphinganine (dihydrosphingosine). The sphinganine is acylated at the amino group with one of a variety of LCFA and then desaturated to produce a ceramide, the immediate precursor of sphingomyelin (and other sphingolipids, as described on p. 208).
Ceramides play a key role in maintaining the skin’s water-permeability barrier. Decreased ceramide levels are associated with a number of skin diseases.
Phosphorylcholine from PC is transferred to the ceramide, producing sphingomyelin and DAG. [Note: Sphingomyelin of the myelin sheath contains predominantly longer-chain FA such as lignoceric acid and nervonic acid, whereas gray matter of the brain has sphingomyelin that contains primarily stearic acid.]
IV. PHOSPHOLIPID DEGRADATION
The degradation of phosphoglycerides is performed by phospholipases found in all tissues and pancreatic juice. [Note: For a discussion of phospholipid digestion, see p. 175.] A number of toxins and venoms have phospholipase activity, and several pathogenic bacteria produce phospholipases that dissolve cell membranes and allow the spread of infection. Sphingomyelin is degraded by the lysosomal phospholipase, sphingomyelinase (see B. below).
A. Phosphoglycerides
Phospholipases hydrolyze the phosphodiester bonds of phosphoglycerides, with each enzyme cleaving the phospholipid at a specific site. The major phospholipases are shown in Figure 17.11. [Note: Removal of the FA from carbon 1 or 2 of a phosphoglyceride produces a lysophosphoglyceride, which is the substrate for lysophospholipases.] Phospholipases release molecules that can serve as second messengers (for example, DAG and IP3) or that are the substrates for synthesis of messengers (for example, arachidonic acid). Phospholipases are responsible not only for degrading phospholipids but also for remodeling them. For example, phospholipases A1 and A2 remove specific FA from membrane-bound phospholipids, which can be replaced with different FA using fatty acyl CoA transferase. This mechanism is used as one way to create the unique lung surfactant DPCC (see p. 204) and to insure that carbon 2 of PI (and sometimes of PC) is bound to arachidonic acid. [Note: Barth syndrome, a rare X-linked disorder characterized by cardiomyopathy, muscle weakness, and neutropenia, is the result of defects in cardiolipin remodeling.] phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate; R1 and R2 = fatty acids; X = an alcohol.
B. Sphingomyelin