Talk:Sphingolipid

Named after the Sphinx?
I'm not sure the reference to the sphinx in the etymology is correct, this reference suggests the origin is from sphingein, Greek "to bind": http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/sphingolipid

Through sphingomyelin, which is mostly composed of sphingolipids: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphingomyelin

People have compared them to the sphinx, but I don't think that's the origin of the name: https://www.caymanchem.com/app/template/Article.vm/article/2142;jsessionid=16297491D97E8ECA7C99508A3EE9B52B

The current Wikipedia article cites this paper: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2859693/#R32 Which in turns cites this paper as its source: http://www.nature.com/nrm/journal/v4/n5/full/nrm1103.html#B1 Which says: "Sphingosine was named in 1884 after the Greek mythological creature, the Sphinx, because of its enigmatic nature" and cites: Thudichum, J. L. W. A Treatise on the Chemical Constitution of Brain. 149 (Bailliere, Tindall and Cox, London, 1884). This latter one, I don't have access to.

Any thoughts? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Alexmorgan (talk • contribs) 16:44, 20 February 2015 (UTC)

Proposal to merge Sphingolipidoses into Sphingolipid
No way. To be consistent, you would have to reorganize all of Wikipedia. Imagine trying to merge diabetes into glucose. Metzenberg (talk) 11:46, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

Ester not ether
Phosphorylcholine is NOT linked to ceramide with an ether link, but an ester one. --kupirijo (talk) 23:39, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

Should be clear when focusing on human biochemistry
This article is not general for all sphingolipids. For example, the figure at the top depicting sphingosine and the statement that ceramides "consist simply of a fatty acid chain attached through an amide linkage to sphingosine" are not true for yeast, which use sphinganine instead of sphingosine. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.253.238.102 (talk) 16:04, 15 June 2011 (UTC)

Well, that really depends on what you mean by "ceramide". Dihydroceramide and phytoceramide contain dihydrosphingosine (a.k.a. sphinganine), as you say, but ceramide proper is made from sphingosine, either through desaturation of dihydroceramide or through direct acylation of sphingosine.

Still, there are other problems with the bullet point referred to in this comment. Ceramide is not the "fundamental structural unit common to all sphingolipids." The sphingoid bases are actually the fundamental units.