Ceramide-enriched microdomains in planar membranes

Ceramide has a large effect on the properties of biological membranes, increasing lipid order and promoting lateral phase separation, and plays an important role in cell signaling. This review provides an overview of recent studies of the effects of direct ceramide incorporation and enzymatic ceramide generation on planar supported membranes, including lipid monolayers and supported lipid bilayers. Recent studies have focused on understanding the nucleation, growth and morphology of ceramide gel domains, characterizing the properties of ceramide-rich membrane phases and investigating the effects of ceramide on phase-separated membranes with co-existing liquid-ordered and fluid phases, as models for cellular membranes.

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► Enzymatic ceramide generation produces restructured membranes with clustered domains
► Ceramide solubility in fluid membranes is modulated by cholesterol
► Rapid enzymatic generation of ceramide produces out-of-equilibrium lipid distributions
► Ceramide-enriched domains show high mechanical strength