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Formation of lipid—protein bilayers by micropipette guided contact of two monolayers
Author(s) -
Schuerholz Theo,
Schindler Hansgeorg
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/0014-5793(83)80376-7
Subject(s) - vesicle , monolayer , lipid bilayer , pipette , bilayer , chemistry , biophysics , resolution (logic) , membrane , biochemistry , biology , artificial intelligence , computer science
Bilayers of a few μm 2 area were formed from lipid‐protein vesicles. First, two monolayers are generated from vesicles, which then are brought into local contact by use of a micro‐pipette to form a bilayer. Membrane channels of Matrix—Protein and of Colicin A exhibit normal properties in these bilayers. Apart from avoiding solvents completely and of using characterized vesicles as starting materials there are two main virtues to this strategy: (1) Current resolution is very high, a few tenths of a pA at 150 μs time resolution; and (2) transport processes can be studied in dependence of surface pressure between 28 and 48 mN/m.