Molecular Biology Commons^™

Engineering Probes To Detect Cholesterol Accessibility On Membranes Using Perfringolysin O, Benjamin B. Johnson

Doctoral Dissertations

Cholesterol is an essential component of mammalian cell membranes and it is important to regulate the structure and function of lipid bilayers. Changes in cholesterol levels are involved in many physiological and pathological events such as the formation of arterial plaques, viral entry into cells, sperm capacitation, and receptor organization. Determination of cholesterol trafficking and distribution is essential for understanding how cells regulate cholesterol. A key factor in the regulation of cholesterol is cholesterol accessibility. Through it interactions in the membrane, cholesterol is sequestered below the surface of the membrane. Based on the composition of the membrane, a certain amount …