SURFACE-POTENTIALS AND SOLVENT REDISTRIBUTION MAY EXPLAIN THE DEPENDENCE OF ELECTRICAL AND MECHANICAL-PROPERTIES OF SUPPORTED LIPID BILAYERS ON APPLIED POTENTIAL AND BILAYER HISTORY
T. Hianik et al., SURFACE-POTENTIALS AND SOLVENT REDISTRIBUTION MAY EXPLAIN THE DEPENDENCE OF ELECTRICAL AND MECHANICAL-PROPERTIES OF SUPPORTED LIPID BILAYERS ON APPLIED POTENTIAL AND BILAYER HISTORY, Bioelectrochemistry and bioenergetics, 37(1), 1995, pp. 61-68
Using the electrostriction method we have studied the elasticity modul
us perpendicular to the membrane plane, E(perpendicular to), and elect
rical capacitance, C, of supported bilayer lipid membranes (s-BLM), fo
rmed on the freshly cut tip of Ag wire, as a function of d.c. voltage
applied to the membrane and time. E(perpendicular to), was found to ch
ange non-monotonically with increasing d.c. voltage U-1. These changes
depend on the polarity and rate of change of voltage: E(perpendicular
to) exhibits a strong maximum at around 200-300 mV (aqueous solution
positive with respect to the Ag wire, scan rate 100 mV min(-1)). C dec
reases almost monotonically but irregularly under these conditions. An
increase in the scan rate leads to a shift toward higher voltages of
the value at which the marked changes of E(perpendicular to) and C tak
e place. Repeated cyclic scans of U-1 lead to the stepwise stabilizati
on of E(perpendicular to) and C, i.e. the changes of these parameters
become less pronounced. Analysis of experimental results suggests that
solvent redistribution between support-induced inhomogeneities in s-B
LM may be the main cause of the observed effects.