Fig. 4

Effects of ceramide on proteins involved in myogenesis, protein synthesis, muscle atrophy, and apoptosis. A, B Ceramide significantly downregulated the levels of MyoD, phosphorylated 4EBP1 and P70S6K (protein synthesis pathway), and phosphorylated Akt-FOXO3a. Ceramide upregulated the expression of the atrophy-related E3 ligase MAFbx, a downstream target of the Akt-FOXO3a pathway. C, D Ceramide increased the levels of apoptosis-related proteins. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 by unpaired t-test. CER, ceramide; FOXO3a, forkhead box O3 alpha; MAFbx, F-box only protein 32; PARP, poly ADP-ribose polymerase