Innovation and Business Development Headquarters, Daicel Corporation, Tokyo, Japan.
Lipid Biofunction Section, Faculty of Advanced Life Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan.
PLoS One. 2020 Nov 2;15(11):e0241640. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0241640. eCollection 2020.
Ceramides, a type of sphingolipid, are cell membrane components and lipid mediators that modulate a variety of cell functions. In plants, ceramides are mostly present in a glucosylated glucosylceramide (GlcCer) form. We previously showed that oral administration of konjac-derived GlcCer to a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease reduced brain amyloid-β and amyloid plaques. Dietary plant GlcCer compounds are absorbed as ceramides, but it is unclear whether they can cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Herein, we evaluated the BBB permeability of synthetic plant-type ceramides (4, 8-sphingadienine, d18:2) using mouse and BBB cell culture models, and found that they could permeate the BBB both in vivo and in vitro. In addition, administrated ceramides were partially metabolized to other sphingolipid species, namely sphingomyelin (SM) and GlcCer, while crossing the BBB. Thus, plant ceramides can cross the BBB, suggesting that ceramides and their metabolites might affect brain functions.
神经酰胺是一种鞘脂类物质，是细胞膜的组成部分和脂质介质，能调节多种细胞功能。在植物中，神经酰胺主要以糖基化神经酰胺（GlcCer）的形式存在。我们之前的研究表明，向阿尔茨海默病小鼠模型口服魔芋衍生的 GlcCer 可减少脑内淀粉样β和淀粉样斑块。膳食植物 GlcCer 化合物被吸收为神经酰胺，但尚不清楚它们是否能穿过血脑屏障（BBB）。在此，我们使用小鼠和 BBB 细胞培养模型评估了合成植物型神经酰胺（4,8- 二氢神经氨酸，d18:2）的 BBB 通透性，发现它们可以在体内和体外穿透 BBB。此外，给予的神经酰胺在穿过 BBB 时部分代谢为其他鞘脂，即神经鞘磷脂（SM）和 GlcCer。因此，植物神经酰胺可以穿过 BBB，这表明神经酰胺及其代谢产物可能会影响大脑功能。
