The purpose of these experiments is to understand the role of ceramide kinase in fibroblast migration of the wound-healing process. Gaining a better understanding of this role is important in analyzing disorders that involve abnormal fibroblast migration. Although this investigation focused on the wound healing aspect of fibroblast migration, abnormal fibroblast migration may also play a role in diseases that are not related to wound healing as well. Enhancing the wound healing process through ceramide kinase induced ceramide-1-phosphate may lead to a better development of treatments for such disorders. The enzyme ceramide kinase, known to catalyze a reaction that creates ceramide-1-phosphate, was the key to choose mice for the experiments. The sphingolipid ceramide-1-phosphate promotes the release of arachidonic acid, which further produces eicosanoids that can regulate the migration of fibroblasts. Fibroblasts were analyzed from ablated mice and wild-type littermates by the use of in vitro wound-healing assays. Wild-type mice, often abbreviated as CERK^+/+, are mice that carry the phenotype for production of ceramide kinase. Genetically ablated mice, often abbreviated as CERK^-/-, are those that contain modified DNA of which ceramide kinase is removed.

Wild type mice (CERK^+/+) showed an increase in arachidonic acid levels in contrast to the ablated (CERK^-/-) mice when mechanical trauma was induced. Scratch-induced eicosanoid levels also demonstrated this difference in the mice types. In human wound healing, the levels of ceramide-1-phosphate increased during the beginning stages of the wound healing process. This increase mainly occurred in the transition from the inflammatory stage toward the most active part of the fibroplasia stage during which proliferation and migration of fibroblasts occurs. When proper eicosanoid response was absent, fibroblasts from the ablated mice demonstrated migration in an abnormal pattern. Wound healing requires proper fibroblast migration in order to occur efficiently, and these experimental analyses support the requirement of CERK-derived ceramide-1-phosphate for normal wound healing. Specifically, ceramide kinase is needed to promote efficient eicosanoid response and fibroblast migration.