The sphingolipid ceramide modulates stress-induced cell death and apoptosis. We have shown that ceramide generated via de novo sphingolipid biosynthesis is required to initiate apoptosis after photodynamic therapy (PDT). The objective of this study was to define the role of ceramide synthase (CERS) in PDT-induced cell death and apoptosis using fumonisin B1 (FB), a CERS inhibitor. We used the silicon phthalocyanine Pc4 for PDT, and SCC17B cells, as a clinically-relevant model of human head and neck squamous carcinoma. zVAD-fmk, a pan-caspase inhibitor, as well as FB, protected cells from death after PDT. In contrast, ABT199, an inhibitor of the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl2, enhanced cell killing after PDT. PDT-induced accumulation of ceramide in the endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria was inhibited by FB. PDT-induced Bax translocation to the mitochondria and cytochrome c release were also inhibited by FB. These novel data suggest that PDT-induced cell death via apoptosis is CERS/ceramide-dependent.
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Specific-retention-volume data from gas-liquid chromatographic measurements can be used to obtain activity coefficients at infinite dilution. There are numerous such data in the analytical chemistry literature for a variety of binary systems containing common volatile organic fluids and high-boiling, multifunctional organic substrates. A data-reduction method has been established wherein chromatographic specific-retention-volume data may be used to estimate group-interaction parameters for the UNIFAC correlation to predict activity coefficients. New UNIFAC parameters are reported for 30 group interactions.
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