Sphingosine, an endogenous phospholipid known to produce significant decreases in myoplasmic Ca2+ transients, was shown to have a pronounced inhibitory effect on inward Na+ and L-type Ca2+ currents in rat ventricular myocytes. Sphingosine action was accompanied by a slowing of inactivation of both kinds of current. Both sphingosine and sphingosylphosphorylcholine (SPC) caused depolarizing shifts in the activation curves for the two channels. In tests on Ca2+ currents, sphingosine neither showed high affinity for inactivated states nor exhibited any use dependence. The mechanism of the blocking action of sphingosine does not appear to involve effects on bulk surface charge or, at least for Ca2+ channels, a voltage-dependent block. Instead, the results appear most consistent with an effect of sphingosine on channel gating. The shift in the voltage dependence of channel activation by sphingosine and SPC appears likely to be a feature of both the hydrocarbon chains and the net positive charge of these amphiphiles.