Cholesterol takes major role in the development of fingers and toes

When a new mother counts her newborn's fingers and toes, she probably doesn't realize that cholesterol may be to thank for baby's complete set of 20 digits.

Although cholesterol has a bad rap as the sticky, fatty substance responsible for clogging arteries, Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers recently found that the attachment of cholesterol to an important developmental protein controls the development of fingers and toes in mice. Without cholesterol, mice developed extra digits, as well as digits in the wrong places.

The new study published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) helps to clear up some of the conflicting data about cholesterol's controversial role in limb development, said senior author on the study, Chin Chiang, Ph.D., associate professor of Cell and Developmental Biology.

The developmental protein at work here, named Sonic hedgehog after the video game character, was discovered in the early 1990s and shown to have important roles in patterning the developing embryo, including proper digit patterning.

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