CHOLESTEROL—AN ESSENTIAL LIPID FOR NORMAL CELL FUNCTION

CHOLESTEROL—
AN ESSENTIAL LIPID FOR NORMAL CELL FUNCTION
 As a primary care physician I have to struggle to have my patients take the statins to keep cholesterol down. It is to be noted Cholesterol  is  not the devil. it has it's beneficial uses.
Cholesterol is an essential lipid component of cellular membranes. This sterol
regulates permeability, fluidity, and bending rigidity of membranes, as well as
the activity of several membrane proteins (Maxfield and Tabas, 2005; W¨ustner,
2009). Beside this structural function, cholesterol is also the precursor molecule
for bile acid and steroid hormones synthesis. The importance of cholesterol
for cellular homeostasis is illustrated by its known contribution to development
and function of the central nervous system (CNS) and bones (Porter, 2002), to
signal transduction and sperm development, and to embryonic morphogenesis
(Bj¨orkhelm, 2002; Travis and Kopf, 2002). Various human malformation syndromes
result from a defect in cholesterol synthesis, such as Smith–Lemli–Opitz
syndrome (SLOS), desmosterolosis, Greenberg dysplasia, and Antley–Bixler
syndrome (Porter, 2002). Fatal clinical outcomes in these diseases are either a
direct consequence of a lack of cholesterol or of accumulation of a synthetic
cholesterol precursor. Its very low water solubility makes excess cholesterol
also a life-threatening condition (Tabas, 2002). This is well known from the
most frequent causes of death in the western world, cardiovascular disease and
atherosclerosis (Maxfield and Tabas, 2005). Lysosomal storage disorders such as
Niemann–Pick and Wolman diseases are either caused or accompanied by fatal
cholesterol accumulation in degradative compartments (Ikonen, 2006).