Sphingosine 1-phosphate and sphingosine kinase activity during chicken embryonic development.

The chicken embryo has been well used in studies of the developmental process, and during development sphingosine and sphingosine 1-phosphate (So1P) are considered critical mediators of cell death and survival. In this study, we compared the sphingolipid contents of chicken embryos during the early embryonic development period from day 3 to day 6. HPLC analyses of sphingosine and So1P in chicken embryos revealed that sphingosine levels were greatly reduced on day 4 whereas So1P levels were not significantly changed. Sphingosine kinase (Sphk) activities, which require sphingosine as substrate to produce So1P, were also greatly reduced on day 4. Collectively, we found sphingosine levels and Sphk activities, but not So1P levels are changed in early stage of chicken embryos development.