Ceramide modulates the lipid membrane organization at molecular and supramolecular levels

The role of lipids in membranes has changed rapidly from static to dynamic and emphasized their involvement in information transduction, linking temporal and topological structuring through compositionally driven effects. Ceramide has been described as an important modulator of different membrane functions. In mixtures with ganglioside GM1, the condensation induced by ceramide increases intermolecular interactions, leading to an increase of the phase transition temperature and size of the self-assembled structure. In mixtures with phosphatidylcholines, ceramide segregates laterally in the gel state, forming domains whose thickness depend on global concentration and chain asymmetry of the sphingolipid. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.