What's so special about cholesterol?

Ole G. Mouritsen*, Martin J. Zuckermann

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

    423 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Cholesterol (or other higher sterols such as ergosterol and phytosterols) is universally present in large amounts (20-40 mol%) in eukaryotic plasma membranes, whereas it is universally absent in the membranes of prokaryotes. Cholesterol has a unique ability to increase lipid order in fluid membranes while maintaining fluidity and diffusion rates. Cholesterol imparts low permeability barriers to lipid membranes and provides for large mechanical coherence. A short topical review is given of these special properties of cholesterol in relation to the structure of membranes, with results drawn from a variety of theoretical and experimental studies. Particular focus is put on cholesterol's ability to promote a special membrane phase, the liquid-ordered phase, which is unique for cholesterol (and other higher sterols like ergosterol) and absent in membranes containing the cholesterol precursor lanosterol. Cholesterol's role in the formation of special membrane domains and so-called rafts is discussed.

    Original languageEnglish
    JournalLipids
    Volume39
    Issue number11
    Pages (from-to)1101-1113
    Number of pages13
    ISSN0024-4201
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Nov 2004

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