Research

Hormonal

Pharmacological or genetic reduction of ceramide synthesis (e.g., via myriocin or CERS6 inhibition) reverses insulin resistance, diabetes, and cardiovascular complications in rodent models.

Research shows that blocking the production of ceramides in animals reverses diabetes and heart disease symptoms. While direct human trials with drugs like myriocin are not detailed here, this suggests that therapies targeting ceramide synthesis could be effective treatments for metabolic diseases in humans.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
In rat or mouse models of obesity or dyslipidemia, the administration of pharmacological reagents and/or genetic engineering strategies to lower ceramide levels restored insulin sensitivity... Remarkably, inhibition of ceramide production also reversed all of the other complications of obesity and insulin resistance including type 2 diabetes, NAFLD/NASH, atherosclerosis, hypertension, and cardiomyopathy.
Bhagirath Chaurasia et al. · Annual Review of Physiology · 2020

Why this rating

Consistent results across multiple rodent models (high-fat diet, leptin-deficient) and genetic strategies.

Source

Ceramides in Metabolism: Key Lipotoxic Players

Bhagirath Chaurasia et al. · Annual Review of Physiology · 2020

DOI 10.1146/annurev-physiol-031620-093815

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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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