Recent advances in study of dihydroceramide

Sphingolipids are a class of lipids that have important signaling functions. The most widely studied bioactive shingolipids include ceramides, sphingosine-1-phosphate and so on. In contrast, dihydroce­ramides have received poor attention. However, recent reports indicate that dihydroceramides are in fact bioactive lipids. The biological activity of dihydroceramide derivatives have been proven in the biophysical, genetic and pharmacological models by decreasing dihydroceramide desaturase activity. Current research shows that dihydroceramides are involved in a variety of important physiological and pathological processes, including the response of autophagy, apoptosis and cell cycle arrest. In this review article, we summarizes the recent advances in study of dihydroceramide in the metabolism pathway, the key metabolic enzymes and biological funcitons.