Ceramides are a family of lipid molecules that are found in high concentrations within cell membranes and play a key role in a variety of physiological functions including apoptosis, cell growth, cell adhesion and plasma membrane integrity maintenance.(1)~All tissues can synthesize ceramides de novo from saturated fats and sphingosine.(2) the ( LDL ) Present in atherosclerotic plaque is rich in ceramide and contain 10 - 50 fold higher content of ceramide when compared with plasma LDL .(3)~Ceramide (d18:1/16:0) is associated with the fraction of necrotic core tissue and lipid core burden in coronary atherosclerosis.(4) Previous clinical research found that circulating ceramides are elevated in patients with hypertension,(5) obesity (6 - 7) and type II diabetes mellitus.~Previous clinical research found that elevated ceramide plasma concentrations are associated with coronary plaque vulnerability evaluated by intravascular ultrasound .~virtual Recent studies showed targeted profiling of ceramides predicted short-term and long-term major adverse cardiac events.~Plasma ceramide level is also positively associated with the levels of total cholesterol. [8 - 9] The plasma ceramides that have been studied as high-risk factors are Cer (d18:1/16:0), Cer (d18:1/18:0) and Cer (d18:1/24:1) and the ratios of these ceramides to Cer (d18:1/24:0) [10 - 11].~However, it is tempting to speculate that ceramides are associated with plaque vulnerability as they are known to fuel many central atherosclerosis processes including lipoprotein aggregation and uptake, inflammation, superoxide anion production, andapoptosis 12 - 13 - 14
Ceramide level as a predictor of outcomes in patients of anterior myocardial infarction undergoing primary Coronary intervention