Ceramide triggers meiotic cell cycle progression in Xenopus oocytes. A potential mediator of progesterone-induced maturation.

The role of sphingomyelin-derived second messengers in progesterone-induced reinitiation of the meiotic cell cycle of Xenopus laevis oocytes was investigated. A brief treatment of defolliculated oocytes with sphingomyelinase (Staphylococcus aureus) was sufficient to induce maturation as measured by H1 kinase activity and germinal vesicle breakdown (GVBD). Pretreatment with cycloheximide inhibited sphingomyelinase-induced GVBD demonstrating a requirement for protein synthesis. Microinjection of ceramide or sphingosine, potential products of sphingomyelin hydrolysis, were capable of inducing GVBD in the absence of hormone. Metabolic labeling studies suggested the conversion of sphingosine to ceramide was necessary for sphingosine-induced GVBD. Additionally, fumonisin b1, an inhibitor of sphingosine N-acyltransferase, blocked sphingosine-induced GVBD demonstrating that ceramide is the more proximal biologically active metabolite. Treatment of oocytes with progesterone, the physiological inducer of oocyte maturation, resulted in a time- and concentration-dependent increase in the mass of ceramide and decrease in the mass of sphingomyelin through activation of a Mg(2+)-dependent neutral sphingomyelinase. These observations suggest that the generation of ceramide from sphingomyelin is part of the signal transduction pathway activated in response to progesterone and that the increase in ceramide is likely to be functionally important in resumption of the meiotic cell cycle.