What is Sphingomyelin?
In biology, sphinomyelin (SPH) is a special type of lipid, which forms most of the fat content in cell membranes. The SPH structure consists of a polar group, sphinosin and fatty acids. The polar group consists of a molecule of either phosphoethanolamine or phosphocholine. It is associated with sphinosin, which is an amino alcohol molecule with 18 carbon atoms. Part of the fatty acid structure is usually saturated and is directly associated with sphinosin. However, SPH differs from most lipids of the cell membrane because it is usually built of amino acid serine and palmites of fatty acids. Sphingomyelin synthase or sphinomyelinase is the main enzyme that is responsible for this chemical reaction.
SPH functions are not fully understood. These molecules certainly form a vital building block in the Cell membrane structure. SPH and cholesterol are often discovered in high concentrations together in certain areas of the cell membrane, leading to a hypothesis that the metabolism of these two substances can be interconnected. IsPossible that SPH plays a role in controlling how cholesterol is distributed in human cells.
It seems that another important function is to transmit signal in nerve cells. This is in line with observing that myelin sheath, a membrane found around a long part of many neurons, has a chemical make -up with a very high ratio of sphinomyelin. In addition to the high concentrations found in nerve tissue, sphodomyelin is also a particularly important component of red blood cells and some cells in the eye of mammals.
disorders related to the production of sphinomyelin include acanthocytosis and rarely occurring Niemann-Pick disease. Acanthocytosis is a syndrome where red blood cells lose a smooth regular shape and become enrichment, or shaped as a star with a large number of points. These dysfunctional blood cells can be observed where there is an excess of blood production in the blood.
niemann-pick illnessIt is a hereditary disorder where the lack of the enzyme of the sphodomyelinase. This causes sphinomyelin to accumulate in the brain and several other vital organs. When this happens in infants, this usually causes serious brain damage and in most cases it is fatal.