N-Acetylsphingosine (C2-ceramide), a membrane-permeable analogue, induced apoptosis in C6 glial cells. Phase-contrast micrographs showed that the round cells appeared 3 h after exposure to 25 microM C2-ceramide and the number of floating cells increased time-dependently. Staining with Hoechst 33258 dye showed condensed or fragmented nuclei in round cells at 12 h. DNA fragmentation was also observed by agarose gel electrophoresis at 12 h. To understand the mechanism underlying glial cell death induced by C2-ceramide treatment, changes in phospholipase D (PLD) activity in response to guanosine 5'-O-(3-thiotriphosphate) (GTPgammaS) and expression of mRNA levels of PLD isozymes were examined. In cell lysate, GTPgammaS-dependent PLD activity was down-regulated after ceramide treatment in a time-dependent manner. In the in vitro PLD assay, membrane-associated PLD activation in response to recombinant ADP-ribosylation factor 1 was greatly suppressed. Furthermore, levels of rPLD1a and rPLD1b mRNAs were found to be down-regulated, whereas the level of rPLD2 mRNA increased gradually, peaking at 3 h, followed by a slow decrease, as inferred by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Decreases in GTPgammaS-dependent PLD activity were well correlated with those in rPLD1a and rPLD1b mRNAs levels. Taken together, these data suggest that levels of PLD enzymes might be decreased by ceramide treatment.