What Cholesterol Is For Cell Membrane Cholesterol and Diseases 1st Edition – PDF/EPUB Version Downloadable

Cholesterol has recently received a lot of attention in both medical and scientific circles. Determination of serum lipid profile is one of the standard blood tests when going to a healthcare centre, and an increase in the level of ‘bad cholesterol’ in such tests is a cause for concern. In such cases, low-fat diets and even statins—inhibitors of cholesterol synthesis, considered a universal remedy to protect against atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease—are usually prescribed. But if cholesterol is so hazardous, why is it persistently synthesised by cells? What are the real benefits and harms of cholesterol and is its reputation as ‘bad’ even fair?

This book examines the role of cholesterol from the perspective of cell biology. A living cell is a unique system in which the functioning of its constituent molecules is interdependent and coordinated, and disruption of this coordination is lethal to the cell. Each living cell is surrounded by cellular (‘biological’) membranes that provide a diffusion barrier and regulate the incoming and outgoing flows of molecules across the cellular boundary. The major component (about 50%) of the plasma membranes surrounding the animal cell are phospholipids, and the next most abundant lipid component (about 40%) is cholesterol, a remarkable molecule, ‘the central lipid of mammalian cells’ (Maxfield and van Meer, 2010). The lipid matrix of membranes contains various proteins (receptors, enzymes, ion channels and pumps, etc.) whose function depends on their lipid environment and, in particular, on cholesterol.

The book What Cholesterol Is For provides examples of cholesterol-dependent membrane proteins and cellular processes and discusses their role in various microbial infections and some other pathologies.