sterol Biochem.
(ˈstɪərɒl, ˈstɛrɒl)
[The ending of cholesterol, ergosterol, etc., used substantively.]
Any of a class of solid, unsaturated steroid alcohols that occur naturally both free and in combination as esters or glycosides and are classified according to their origin as mycosterols, phytosterols, zoosterols, and marine sterols.
| 1913 Biochem. Jrnl. VII. 617 It is now proposed to limit the terms zoo- and phyto-sterol to sterols which are found as tissue constituents of animals and plants respectively. 1939 A. Huxley After Many a Summer i. v. 65 Those sterols!.. Always linked up with senility. The most obvious case, of course, was cholesterol. 1959 L. F. & M. Fieser Steroids xi. 358 The characteristic sterol fraction from freshwater green algae (Chlorophyceae) is the common sitosterol mixture of higher plants. 1975 Lipids X. 542/1 Sterols have been isolated from both adult and juvenile ivy in free and esterified form. Stigmasterol..is the main component. 1979 Jrnl. Org. Chem. XLIV. 3378/1 Algae and fungi produce sterols with 24β configurations, while most higher plants produce sterols with 24α configurations. |