Róg Tomasz, Pasenkiewicz-Gierula Marta, Vattulainen Ilpo, Karttunen Mikko
Department of Physics, Tampere University of Technology, Tampere, Finland.
Biochim Biophys Acta. 2009 Jan;1788(1):97-121. doi: 10.1016/j.bbamem.2008.08.022. Epub 2008 Sep 10.
Without any exaggeration, cholesterol is one of the most important lipid species in eukaryotic cells. Its effects on cellular membranes and functions range from purely mechanistic to complex metabolic ones, besides which it is also a precursor of the sex hormones (steroids) and several vitamins. In this review, we discuss the biophysical effects of cholesterol on the lipid bilayer, in particular the ordering and condensing effects, concentrating on the molecular level or inter-atomic interactions perspective, starting from two-component systems and proceeding to many-component ones e.g., modeling lipid rafts. Particular attention is paid to the roles of the methyl groups in the cholesterol ring system, and their possible biological function. Although our main research methodology is computer modeling, in this review we make extensive comparisons between experiments and different modeling approaches.
毫不夸张地说，胆固醇是真核细胞中最重要的脂质种类之一。它对细胞膜和细胞功能的影响范围从纯粹的机械作用到复杂的代谢作用，除此之外，它还是性激素（类固醇）和多种维生素的前体。在本综述中，我们将讨论胆固醇对脂质双层的生物物理效应，特别是有序化和凝聚效应，从双组分系统开始，进而探讨多组分系统（如模拟脂筏），重点关注分子水平或原子间相互作用的角度。我们特别关注胆固醇环系统中甲基的作用及其可能的生物学功能。虽然我们的主要研究方法是计算机建模，但在本综述中，我们对实验和不同建模方法进行了广泛比较。
