Defect of insulin signal in peripheral tissues: Important role of ceramide

Figure 2 Sphingolipid metabolism. Ceramide can either be newly synthesized in de novo ceramide synthesis pathway (1), or it can be the product of complex sphingolipids degradation, including sphingomyelin hydrolysis (2). The degradation of glycosylsphingolipids constitutes the salvage pathway (3). GCase: Glucosyl ceramidase; GCS: Glucosylceramide synthase; SMases: Sphingomyelinases; SMSases: Sphingomyelin synthases.