Sterol chemical configuration influences the thermotropic phase behaviour of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine bilayers containing 5α-cholestan-3β- and 3α-ol.

It is commonly believed that all membrane sterols are rigid all-trans ring systems with a fully extended alkyl side-chain and that they similarly influence phospholipid bilayer physical properties. Here, we report the sterol concentration-dependent, thermotropic phase behaviour of binary dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC)/sterol mixtures containing two similar 5α-H sterols with different functional group orientations (3α-OH or 3β-OH), which adopt an ideal all-trans planar ring conformation but lack the deformed ring B conformation of cholesterol (Chol) and epicholesterol (Echol), using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Our deconvolution of the DSC main phase transition endotherms show differences in the proportions of sterol-poor (sharp) and sterol-rich (broad) domains in the DPPC bilayer with increasing sterol concentration, which delineate gel/liquid-crystalline (P(β')/L(α)) and disordered gel (L(β))/liquid-ordered (l(o)) phase regions. There are similarities in the DPPC main phase transition temperature, cooperativity and enthalpy for each 3β-ol and 3α-ol pair with increasing sterol concentration and differences in the parameters obtained for both the sterol-poor and sterol-rich regions. The sterol-poor domain persists over a greater concentration range in both 3α-ol/DPPC mixtures, suggesting that either those domains are more stable in the 3α-ols or that those sterols are less miscible in the sterol-rich domain. Corresponding parameters for the sterol-rich domain show that at sterol concentrations up to 20mol%, the 5α-H,3β-ol is more effective at reducing the phase transition enthalpy of the broad component (ΔH(m)(brd)) than Chol, but is less effective at higher concentrations. Although mixtures containing Echol and 5α-cholestan-3α-ol have similar positive slopes below 7mol% sterol, suggesting that they abolish the L(β)/l(o) phase transition equally effectively at low concentrations, Echol is more effective than the saturated 3α-ol at higher sterol concentrations. A comparison of ΔH(m)(brd) obtained for the saturated and unsaturated pairs suggests that the latter sterols stabilize the l(o) phase and broaden and abolish the DPPC main phase transition more effectively than the saturated sterols at physiologically relevant concentrations, supporting the idea that the double bond of Chol and Echol promotes greater sterol miscibility and the formation of l(o) phase lipid bilayers relative to corresponding saturated sterols in biological membranes.