Establishment of the method for the measurement of sphingosine-1-phosphate in biological samples and its application for S1P research]

Sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P), one of the sphingolipid metabolites, has been shown to participate in a variety of cellular responses including proliferation, differentiation, adhesion, motility, and apoptosis. These cellular responses elicited by S1P were first thought to be mediated through an intracellular target(s), but extracellular mechanisms through G-protein-coupled S1P receptors have also been suggested. In addition to the studies examining the functions of the lipid on the cells and tissues, the measurement of the lipid concentration is also important for understanding the physiological and pathophysiological roles of the lipid. We have recently developed a novel quantitative method for measurement of S1P, which was based on the competition of S1P in the samples with the labeled S1P on the S1P receptor Edg-1. Here, we compared our method with previously published ones in several points including specificity and simplicity. We further presented our recent results obtained by using this novel quantitative method and finally mentioned the prospects of the S1P measurement in lipid research, especially in relation to several disorders.