A comparative study of the effects of 7β-hydroxycholesterol, 25-hydroxycholesterol, and cholesterol on the structural and thermal phase behavior of multilamellar dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine bilayer vesicles

[Display omitted] •Effects of 7β-hydroxycholesterol (7βOH) and 25-hydroxycholesterol (25OH) on DPPC bilayers were investigated.•Calorimetry, X-ray diffraction and molecular volume measurements were used in this study.•Effects of the two oxysterols on the thermal behavior slightly differ from that of cholesterol (Chol).•The order of the lateral molecular packing density is DPPC/Chol > DPPC/25OH > DPPC/7βOH. The effects of 7β-hydroxycholesterol (7βOH) and 25-hydroxycholesterol (25OH) on the phase behavior and the structural properties of the multilamellar vesicles of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) bilayers were investigated with comparing to the effects of cholesterol (Chol). Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) measurements showed these three sterols have slightly but distinctly different effects on the thermal behavior of DPPC bilayers. X-ray diffraction data analysis on DPPC bilayers containing 30 mol% sterols with the aid of molecular volume data estimated by the neutral buoyancy method indicated that the order of apparent occupied surface area per molecule is DPPC/7βOH > DPPC/25OH > DPPC/Chol at both 25 ℃ and 50 ℃, suggesting that the strength of the condensation effect of these sterols follows inversely this order. Based on the findings in this study, we inferred the molecular orientations of Chol, 7βOH, and 25OH in DPPC bilayers.