Abstract
It has been reported that in rat fibroblasts cell‐permeable ceramide analogs inhibit agonist‐induced phospholipase D (PLD)‐mediated hydrolysis of phosphatidylcholine (PtdCho). Here we demonstrate that relatively short (30 min) treatments of NIH 3T3 fibroblasts with 15–60 μM concentrations of N‐acetylsphingosine result in preferential, although not exclusive, inhibition of phorbol 12‐myristate 13‐acetate‐induced PLD‐mediated hydrolysis of phosphatidylethanolamine (PtdEtn). The results suggest that in different cell types the PtdEtn‐ and PtdCho‐hydrolyzing PLD activities are differentially sensitive to the inhibitory effect of ceramide.