A hemolytic protein, lysenin, may be a valuable probe for sphingomyelin detection in cells of Niemann-Pick A patients. As a result of the autoimmune disease multiple sclerosis (MS), the myelin sheath of neuronal cells in the brain and spinal cord is degraded, resulting in loss of signal transduction capability. MS patients exhibit upregulation of certain cytokines in the cerebrospinal fluid, particularly tumor necrosis factor alpha. This activates sphingomyelinase, an enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis of sphingomyelin to ceramide; sphingomyelinase activity has been observed in conjunction with cellular apoptosis. An excess of sphingomyelin in the red blood cell membrane (as in abetalipoproteinemia) causes excess lipid accumulation in the outer leaflet of the red blood cell plasma membrane. This results in abnormally shaped red cells called acanthocytes. Additional images References External links Phospholipids Membrane biology