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Figure 8 | BMC Pharmacology

Figure 8

From: Cross-talk between phosphatidic acid and ceramide during ethanol-induced apoptosis in astrocytes

Figure 8

Hypothetical cross-talk between phospholipase D and sphingomyelin pathways in astrocytes, and effect of ethanol. Phosphatidic acid (PA), the product of phosphatidylcholine (PC) hydrolysis by phospholipase D (PLD), inhibits hydrolysis of sphingomyelin (SM) by sphingomyelinase (SMase). Vice versa, ceramide (Cer), the product of SM hydrolysis by SMase, inhibits activation of PLD. Ethanol induces apoptosis by disrupting the mitogenic PLD signaling pathway thereby decreasing the PA:Cer ratio and disinhibiting the pro-apoptotic SMase pathway.

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