Ceramide

Oryza (Rice Bran) Ceramide, brownish in color, extracted and refined from rice bran or rice germ. It contains a large amount of glycosphingolipid. The glycosphingolipid of rice bran is similar to the animal glycosphingolipid, in which the backbone is ceramide including sphingoid bases with fatty acid in a amide linkage, and the terminal hydroxyl group is substituted by glucose. These are different species of glycosphingolipids due to its chemical structure of sphingoid bases and different fatty acid components. Fujino et al. reported more than twenty species of spingolipids identified in rice bran. Oryza Ceramide imported from Japan was found to contain four major constituents. The structure of these constituents were established by analysis of various chromatograph and NMR spectra.