The Effect of Benzyl Alcohol on the Voltage-Current Characteristics of Tethered Lipid Bilayers

Abstract

In this study a lipid bilayer membrane model was used in which the bilayer is tethered to a solid substrate with molecular tethers. Voltage–current (V–I) measurements of the tethered bilayer membranes (tBLM) and tBLM with benzyl alcohol (BZA) incorporated in their structures, were measured using triangular voltage ramps of 0–500 mV. The temperature dependence of the conductance deduced from the V–I measurements are described. An evaluation of the activation energies for electrical conductance showed that BZA decreased the activation/ Born energies for ionic conduction of tethered lipid membranes. It is concluded that BZA increased the average pore radius of the tBLM.

Keywords: Tethered lipid membranes, Voltage-current (V–I) characteristics, Activation energy