Self-association of Cholesterol in Aqueous Solution

Abstract
Cholesterol has a maximum solubility in aqueous solutions of 1.8 mug/ml or 4.7 muM. It undergoes a thermodynamically reversible self-association with a critical micelle concentration of 25 to 40 nM at 25 degrees . The cholesterol micelle is heterogeneous in size, probably rodlike in shape, and stabilized by an unusually high interaction energy between the aggregated monomers.