Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 25, 2026

Lipidomics and Transcriptomics in Neurological Diseases
Published on: March 18, 2022
The roles of neutral sphingomyelinases in neurological pathologies
Charles R Horres1, Yusuf A Hannun
1Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA.
Abstract:
The neutral sphingomyelinases (N-SMases) are a group of Mg²⁺-dependent enzymes with a pH optimum in the neutral range. N-SMases catalyze the conversion of sphingomyelin to ceramide and have been found particularly enriched in brain tissue. N-SMase activity has been implicated in many physiological and pathological processes affecting the brain and nervous system. In this review, we discuss the proposed functions of N-SMase with a particular emphasis on its role in neurological disorders, such as age-related neurodegeneration, Alzheimer's disease, HIV-associated dementia, atherosclerosis, ischemia-reperfusion injury, and cancer.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Lysosomal Hydrolases
Encephalitis ll: Pathophysiology

