Figure 2

Expression of genes involved in de novo synthesis of ceramides in sphingoid-treated NHEK cells. (A) Expression of genes involved in de novo synthesis of ceramides. (B) Expression of ELOVL genes and PPAR genes. Real-time PCR was performed at 24 h after treatment of NHEK cells with sphingoids or glucosylceramide. Vehicle-treated (EtOH at a final concentration of 0.1%, which did not affect cell viability) NHEK cells were used as the control; gene expression was evaluated relative to these control cells. As test treatments, 5 μg/mL of 4-sphingenine (Sph), d18:2, or t18:1, or 13 μg/mL of glucosylceramide (GlcCer) was used. All the results are shown as mean ± SD (n = 4). *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, significantly different from the level in the vehicle-treated control cells (Student’s t-test).