Sphingolipids are highly bioactive lipids. Sphingolipid metabolism produces key membrane components (e.g. sphingomyelin) and a variety of signaling lipids with different biological functions (e.g. ceramide, sphingosine-1-phosphate). The coordinated activity of tens of different enzymes maintains proper levels and localization of these lipids with key roles in cellular processes. In this review, we highlight the signaling roles of sphingolipids in cell death and survival. We discuss recent findings on the role of specific sphingolipids during these processes, enabled by the use of lipidomics to study compositional and spatial regulation of these lipids and synthetic sphingolipid probes to study subcellular localization and interaction partners of sphingolipids to understand the function of these lipids.

鞘脂是高度生物活性的脂质。鞘脂代谢产生关键的膜成分（例如鞘磷脂）和多种具有不同生物学功能的信号脂质（例如神经酰胺、1-磷酸鞘氨醇）。数十种不同酶的协调活性维持这些脂质的适当水平和定位，在细胞过程中起关键作用。在这篇综述中，我们强调了鞘脂在细胞死亡和存活中的信号传导作用。我们讨论了最近关于特定鞘脂在这些过程中的作用的发现，通过使用脂质组学来研究这些脂质的组成和空间调节以及合成鞘脂探针来研究鞘脂的亚细胞定位和相互作用伙伴以了解这些脂质的功能。