Sphingosine mediates the immediate negative inotropic effects of tumor necrosis factor-α in the adult mammalian cardiac myocyte

To determine whether activation of the neutral sphingomyelinase pathway was responsible for the immediate (<30 min) negative inotropic effects of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), we examined sphingosine levels in diluent and TNF-α-stimulated cardiac myocytes. TNF-α stimulation of adult feline cardiac myocytes provoked a rapid (<15 min) increase in the hydrolysis of [¹⁴C]sphingomyelin in cell-free extracts, as well as an increase in ceramide mass, consistent with cytokine-induced activation of the neutral sphingomyelinase pathway. High performance liquid chromatographic analysis of lipid extracts from TNF-α-stimulated cardiac myocytes showed that TNF-α stimulation produced a rapid (<30 min) increase in free sphingosine levels. Moreover, exogenous D-sphingosine mimicked the effects of TNF-α on intracellular calcium homeostasis, as well as the negative inotropic effects of TNF-α in isolated contracting myocytes; time course studies showed that exogenous D-sphingosine produced abnormalities in cell shortening that were maximal at 5 min. Finally, blocking sphingosine production using an inhibitor of ceramidase, n-oleoylethanolamine, completely abrogated the negative inotropic effects of TNF-α in isolated contracting cardiac myocytes. Additional studies employing biologically active ceramide analogs and sphingosine 1-phosphate suggested that neither the immediate precursor of sphingosine nor the immediate metabolite of sphingosine, respectively, were likely to be responsible for the immediate negative inotropic effects of TNF- α. Thus, these studies suggest that sphingosine mediates the immediate negative inotropic effects of TNF-α in isolated cardiac myocytes.