Cholesterol transport in nonpolarized cells. LDL carrying cholesterol and CE (esterified cholesterol) is transported (a) from sorting endosomes (SE) to late endosomes (LE) and lysosomes (Ly), from which cholesterol can efflux and reach the plasma membrane or the ER, where it gets esterified (b). Efflux from LE and Ly is poorly characterized, as indicated by dashed lines. Cholesterol can move from the plasma membrane to the ERC by a nonvesicular, ATP-independent process (c). In contrast, recycling of cholesterol occurs almost exclusively in vesicles also carrying other recycling markers (d). De novo synthesized cholesterol is mostly transported from the ER directly to the plasma membrane, bypassing the Golgi apparatus (f), but some follows the biosynthetic secretory pathway from the ER to the TGN (e). Excess cholesterol (Ch) in the ER becomes esterified (CE) and stored in cytoplasmic lipid droplets (D).