sphingomyelin
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~9 min read
Encyclopedic overview
16 sectionsContents
- Physical characteristics
- Composition
- Properties
- Location
- Metabolism
- Synthesis
- Degradation
- Function
- Membranes
- Signal transduction
- Apoptosis
- Lipid rafts
- Abnormalities and associated diseases
- Additional images
- References
- External links
thumb|General structures of sphingolipids|349x349px
Sphingomyelin (SM, ) is a type of sphingolipid found in animal cell membranes, especially in the membranous myelin sheath that surrounds some nerve cell axons. It usually consists of phosphocholine and ceramide, or a phosphoethanolamine head group; therefore, sphingomyelins can also be classified as sphingophospholipids. In humans, SM represents ~85% of all sphingolipids, and typically makes up 10–20 mol % of plasma membrane lipids.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “sphingomyelin” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.