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SBI4U Biology · 2.2
Cholesterol (a sterol) in membranes
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Cholesterol (a sterol) in membranes
- A sterol that stabilizes the fluidity of animal cell membranes.
- Its OH group sits among the polar heads; its rings lie in the non-polar core.
- Warm: restrains lipid movement, so the membrane is less fluid.
- Cold: wedges between lipids so the tails cannot pack into a gel.
- Found in animal membranes, not in plant or prokaryotic membranes (beyond the textbook: plants use other sterols).