Inflammation occurs in response to tissue injury and invasion of microorganisms and is carried out by the innate and adaptive immune systems, which are regulated by numerous chemokines, cytokines, and lipid mediators. There are four major families of bioactive lipid mediators that play an integral role in inflammation – eicosanoids, sphingolipids (SPL), specialized pro-resolving mediators (SPM), and endocannabinoids. SPL have been historically recognized as important structural components of cellular membranes; their roles as bioactive lipids and inflammatory mediators are recent additions. Major SPL metabolites, including sphingomyelin, ceramide, ceramide 1-phosphate (C1P), sphingosine, sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P), and their respective enzymes have been studied extensively, primarily in cell-culture and animal models, for their roles in cellular signaling and regulating inflammation and apoptosis. Less focus has been given to the involvement of SPL in eye diseases. As such, the aim of this review was to examine relationships between the SPL family and ocular surface diseases, focusing on their role in disease pathophysiology and discussing the potential of therapeutics that disrupt SPL pathways.

炎症是对组织损伤和微生物入侵的反应而发生的，是由先天性和适应性免疫系统引起的，这些免疫系统受到多种趋化因子、细胞因子和脂质介质的调节。有四个主要的生物活性脂质介质家族在炎症中发挥着不可或缺的作用——类二十烷酸、鞘脂(SPL)、专​​门的促消退介质 (SPM) 和内源性大麻素。SPL 历来被认为是细胞膜的重要结构成分；它们作为生物活性脂质和炎症介质的作用是最近增加的。主要的 SPL 代谢物，包括鞘磷脂、神经酰胺、神经酰胺 1-磷酸 (C1P)、鞘氨醇、鞘氨醇 1-磷酸 (S1P) 及其各自的酶已被广泛研究，主要是在细胞培养和动物模型中，了解它们在细胞中的作用信号传导和调节炎症和细胞凋亡。SPL 与眼部疾病的关系较少受到关注。因此，本综述的目的是研究 SPL 家族与眼表疾病之间的关系，重点关注它们在疾病病理生理学中的作用，并讨论破坏 SPL 通路的治疗方法的潜力。