Nonlinear conduction in bilayer lipid membranes - effect of temperature

We present here our investigation on the effect of temperature on the rever sible nonlinearity as manifested in the DC I-V characteristic of bilayer li pid membrane (BLM). V-c and I-c the values of voltage and current at the on set of nonlinearity, have been found to be functions of temperature, and th e nonlinearity has been found to decrease with increase in temperature. By proper scaling of voltage and current by V-c and I-c, respectively, the I-V curves taken at different temperatures collapse into one single curve, sho wing the universality in their nature. A log-log plot of I-c vs, sigma (0) (linear conductance) is a straight line where I-c scales with sigma (0) as I-c similar to sigma (1.56)(0). A possible mode of charge conduction in BLM , which is a disordered composite system of lipid and water molecules, has been proposed on the basis of these experimental results. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.