What do the carbohydrates, cholesterol and glycoproteins do on the cell membrane?
Cholesterol in the membrane help increase fluidity of the membrane. Glycoproteins which are just proteins with carbohydrate portions attached, and carbohydrates themselves serve as recognition factors on the membrane. Carbohydrates are always located on the extracellular side of the membrane which allows other molecules, hormones, etc to recognize them.
