The recent advances in membrane structure and function, describe the membrane as formed by microdomains enriched in cholesterol and glycosphingolipids or lipid rafts implicated in various dynamic cellular processes, such as protein sorting and trafficking, signal transduction processes, modulation of peptide incorporation and channel formation. Cholesterol is present in rapidly changeable pools tightly controlled by a feedback mechanism.
The aim of this review is to provide some insight and commentary on how membrane cholesterol modulates the incorporation and channel formation of some peptides. The information gathered in many cases has been transferred to help design new therapeutic substances that improve membrane dysfunction or to biotechnological applications
