Acid sphingomyelinase (ASM) is a sphingolipid metabolizing enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis of sphingomyelin to ceramide. Previous studies revealed high activity of ASM in the blood and brain of old vs. young individuals or mice, and they implicated this enzyme in neurodegenerative disease pathology.

A novel dual-action small molecule developed by a team led by scientists at Kyungpook National University (KNU) in Daegu, South Korea, has been shown to improve the neuropathological features of Alzheimer's disease (AD) in mice, the authors reported in the Jan. 18, 2022, edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.