Activity 2 & Activity 4: The Cell Membrane: Cholesterol functions as a buffer, preventing lower temperatures from inhibiting fluidity and preventing higher temperatures from increasing fluidity. Learning and Memory: Dietary cholesterol influences learning tasks from water maze to fear conditioning. Digestion: In the digestive system, cholesterol is essential for the production of bile, a substance that helps your body break down foods and absorb nutrients in your intestines. Vitamin D: Cholesterol is needed in our skin cells to make vitamin D from sunlight. Steroid Hormones: Cholesterol is the precursor of the five major classes of steroid hormones: progestagens, glucocorticoids, mineralocorticoids, androgens, and estrogens. LDL and HDL are two different types of cholesterol in the body. LDL is properly low-density lipoprotein, sometimes titled “bad cholesterol”. LDL makes up most of the cholesterol. Having high amounts can increase risk of heart disease and stroke. HDL is practically the inverse, properly called high-density lipoprotein, and sometimes titled “good cholesterol”. As one might expect, it also affects the body inversely, having high amounts can reduce risk for heart disease and stroke. HDL absorbs LDL and flushes it out of the body through the liver. Conclusion Questions: 1: Cholesterol plays an important role in the flow of our blood, as too much LDL clogs the arteries and thus makes it harder for blood to flow through the body. It also plays an important role in digestion, as cholesterol is instrumental in the production of bile, which is helpful in breaking down foods. 2: There are many things that can increase LDL (bad cholesterol), such as a poor diet, lack of exercise, and diabetes. However, eating unsaturated fats and having a good lifestyle can increase HDL, which is good. 3: Cholesterol lines on the arteries when LDL is high. This makes it harder for blood to flow, which can lead to some heart diseases. This extends to strokes as well, as a stroke is essentially caused by a lack of blood flow to the brain. The specific case of cholesterol lining the arteries is called Atherosclerosis. 4: In my opinion, the main pro of using drugs that lower cholesterol are that it allows for an easier treatment of cholesterol problems, while a con is that this does not affect the likely issue at hand, poor eating habits and poor lifestyle choices. Citations: Berg, J. M. (1970, January 1). Important Derivatives of Cholesterol Include Bile Salts and Steroid Hormones. Retrieved April 4, 2020, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK22339/ Boundless Biology. (n.d.). Retrieved April 4, 2020, from https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-biology/chapter/components-and-structure/ LDL & HDL: Good & Bad Cholesterol. (2020, January 31). Retrieved April 4, 2020, from https://www.cdc.gov/cholesterol/ldl_hdl.htm Schreurs, B. J. G. (1970, January 1). The effects of cholesterol on learning and memory: Semantic Scholar. Retrieved April 4, 2020, from https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/The-effects-of-cholesterol-on-learning-andmemory-Schreurs/d2f383ad8989c846d2573adf1f76ba36676ea8ac Vitamin D. (n.d.). Retrieved April 4, 2020, from https://www.heartuk.org.uk/low-cholesterolfoods/vitamin-d Watson, S. (2018, August 29). The Effects of High Cholesterol on the Body. Retrieved April 4, 2020, from https://www.healthline.com/health/cholesterol/effects-on-body#5
