The emerging neurobiology of cholesterol

Although cholesterol gets a bad press as a cause of vascular disease, it is, of course, an essential component of all mammalian cells. In neurobiology, three quite different roles of cholesterol can be discerned: as a structural component of the plasma membranes of neurones and glia; as the precursor for a cascade of steroidal hormones and mediators affecting both genomic and non-genomic processes in neurones; and as a direct modulator of the functions of certain plasma membrane proteins.