Now, here we're going to take a look at cholesterol. We're going to say cholesterol is the most abundant steroid in the human body. Remember, because it is a type of steroid it will have the steroid nucleus. We have our 4 fused rings together. Remember, if we're going to number this, we start out here with 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and then this here would be 10. Then we'd have here 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17.
Based on the numbering, we're going to say that the OH group is at carbon number 3, as we can see here. We're going to say we have a double bond that starts at carbon number 5, C5. We have two methyl groups at carbons 10 and 13; so here goes a methyl group on Carbon 10 and one on 13. And then we have a hydrocarbon chain at carbon 17, which is this chain right here.
Now, we're going to say that cholesterol helps maintain the structural integrity of the cell membrane. It can help with the rigidity of the cell membrane based on the amount of cholesterol that's within that cell membrane. We're also going to say here that it is the precursor of bile salts or acids and steroid hormones. Alright. So keep this in mind when we're discussing cholesterols, which are part of steroids.
