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High Cholesterol/Low Cholesterol: Effects in Biological Membranes: A Review

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Abstract

Lipid composition determines membrane properties, and cholesterol plays a major role in this determination as it regulates membrane fluidity and permeability, as well as induces the formation of coexisting phases and domains in the membrane. Biological membranes display a very diverse lipid composition, the lateral organization of which plays a crucial role in regulating a variety of membrane functions. We hypothesize that, during biological evolution, membranes with a particular cholesterol content were selected to perform certain functions in the cells of eukaryotic organisms. In this review, we discuss the major membrane properties induced by cholesterol, and their relationship to certain membrane functions.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants EY015526, EB001980, and EY001931 from the National Institutes of Health, USA. Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Biotechnology of Jagiellonian University is a partner of the Leading National Research Center (KNOW) supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, Poland.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biophysics, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA

    Witold K. Subczynski, Laxman Mainali & Marija Raguz

  2. Department of Computational Biophysics and Bioinformatics, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland

    Marta Pasenkiewicz-Gierula

  3. Department of Biophysics, Medical University of Lublin, Lublin, Poland

    Justyna Widomska

  4. Department of Medical Physics and Biophysics, University of Split, Split, Croatia

    Marija Raguz

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  1. Witold K. Subczynski
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Correspondence to Witold K. Subczynski.

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Subczynski, W.K., Pasenkiewicz-Gierula, M., Widomska, J. et al. High Cholesterol/Low Cholesterol: Effects in Biological Membranes: A Review. Cell Biochem Biophys 75, 369–385 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12013-017-0792-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12013-017-0792-7

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