Questions:

1. Cholesterol is a type of sterol, which is a class of organic compounds with the formula C17H28O. Cholesterol is a zoosterol because it’s found in animals. Name the mycosterol that performs a role similar to cholesterol but in fungi.

2. Name the class of drugs that reduce cholesterol levels in the blood, to lower the risk of cardiovascular disease, by acting on a pathway that constitutes the first 18 steps of the 37-step process the human body uses to make cholesterol.

3. Under the influence of ___________ _____, the body turns cholesterol in a series of steps into calcitriol, an active form of vitamin D made in the kidneys. Fill in the blanks.

4. The human body has a mechanism to recycle cholesterol, beginning with its excretion from the liver and eventual reabsorption into the bloodstream in the X. Name X.

5. Because it can’t cross the _____-_____ _______, cholesterol in the brain is made and transported by cells called astrocytes. Fill in the blanks.

Visual:

Name this American biochemist who helped discover the role cholesterol plays in causing heart disease, sharing the medicine Nobel Prize in 1985 for this work.

Answers:

1. Ergosterol

2. Statins

3. Ultraviolet light

4. Small intestine

5. Astrocytes

Visual: Joseph Goldstein