Phases and phase transitions of the sphingolipids.

LIPIDAT is a computerized database providing access to the wealth of information scattered throughout the literature concerning synthetic and biologically derived polar lipid polymorphic and mesomorphic phase behavior. Herein, we present a review of the LIPIDAT data subset referring to sphingolipids together with an analysis of these data. It includes data collected over a 40-year period and consists of 867 records obtained from 112 articles in 25 different journals. An analysis of these data has allowed us to identify trends in hydrated sphingolipid phase behavior reflecting differences in fatty acyl chain length, saturation and hydroxylation, head group type, and sphingoid base identity. Information on the mesomorphism of biologically-derived and dry sphingolipids is also presented. This review includes 161 references.