The conversation between human and AI assistant.
What is the function of the cholesterol molecules in a cell membrane?
That's interesting. How does cholesterol affect membrane fluidity?
Cholesterol has a unique ability to modulate the fluidity of cell membranes. At high temperatures, cholesterol stabilizes the membrane by reducing its fluidity. At low temperatures, cholesterol functions as a fluidity buffer, maintaining the fluidity of the membrane by reducing the packing of the phospholipid fatty acid tails.