Abstract
Publisher Summary This chapter provides information on water and proton permeability. The studies of the permeability characteristics of lipid bilayer is of great interest and provide valuable basic information for the elucidation of the function of cell membranes and the mechanism by which molecules can pass the lipid bilayer. For the permeation of water, two hypotheses have been put forward: (1) the solubility-diffusion mechanism and (2) the permeation of water through stable channels or transient pores. The studies of the influence of the lipid-phase transition on water permeability could in principle shed some light on the permeation mechanism. H + /OH - permeability can be measured by following the time dependence of the absorbance of an absorbance indicator entrapped in unilamellar vesicles after a rapid pH change produced in a stopped-flow apparatus. The method for measuring water permeability uses the osmotic volume change induced by diluting vesicles into a hypotonic buffer solution in a stopped-flow apparatus.
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