We recently demonstrated that elevation of intracellular glucosylceramide (GlcCer) levels results in increased functional Ca 2؉ stores in cultured neurons, and suggested that this may be due to modulation of ryanodine receptors (RyaRs) by GlcCer (Korkotian, E., Schwarz, A., Pelled, D., Schwarzmann, G., Segal, M. and Futerman, A. H. (1999) J. Biol. Chem. 274, 21673-21678). We now systematically examine the effects of exogenously added GlcCer, other glycosphingolipids (GSLs) and their lyso-derivatives on Ca 2؉ release from rat brain microsomes. GlcCer had no direct effect on Ca 2؉ release, but rather augmented agonist-stimulated Ca 2؉ release via RyaRs, through a mechanism that may involve the redox sensor of the RyaR, but had no effect on Ca 2؉ release via inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptors. Other GSLs and sphingolipids, including galactosylceramide, lactosylceramide, ceramide, sphingomyelin, sphingosine 1-phosphate, sphinganine 1-phosphate, and sphingosylphosphorylcholine had no effect on Ca 2؉ mobilization from rat brain microsomes, but both galactosylsphingosine (psychosine) and glucosylsphingosine stimulated Ca 2؉ release, although only galactosylsphingosine mediated Ca 2؉ release via the RyaR. Finally, we demonstrated that GlcCer levels were ϳ10-fold higher in microsomes prepared from the temporal lobe of a type 2 Gaucher disease patient compared with a control, and Ca 2؉ release via the RyaR was significantly elevated, which may be of relevance for explaining the pathophysiology of neuronopathic forms of Gaucher disease.