Research

Energy balance

Sarcolemmal ceramide accumulation decreases mitochondrial state 3 respiration and increases proton leak, thereby impairing mitochondrial function.

High levels of ceramide in muscle cells can damage mitochondrial function, leading to reduced energy production and increased proton leak. This contributes to insulin resistance. Maintaining mitochondrial health through exercise may help mitigate these effects.

ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
All sphingolipids but only specific DAGs administered to isolated mitochondria decreased mitochondrial state 3 respiration... Only C18:0 and C24:0 ceramides increased state 4 respiration, suggestive of increased proton leak.
Leigh Perreault et al. · JCI Insight · 2018

Why this rating

Mechanistic in vitro study on isolated rat mitochondria; supports human correlation data but is not a human intervention.

Source

Intracellular localization of diacylglycerols and sphingolipids influences insulin sensitivity and mitochondrial function in human skeletal muscle

Leigh Perreault et al. · JCI Insight · 2018

DOI 10.1172/jci.insight.96805

cross_sectional · n=58Cited 176×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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