Ion Transport and Electrochemical Gradients under DC and AC Signals

Abstract

The cell must be able to exchange materials with its surrounding environment via the plasma membrane in order to survive. Here we investigate passive ion transport across reconstituted lipid bilayers and compare ionic flow through gramicidin A channels under applied DC and AC signals. For these measurements, we adapted a Planar Lipid Bilayer workstation with a frequency mudulator in order to handle applied AC signals and focused our studies to lithium transport to correlate with previous measurements of lithium effects on lipid interactions. Studying the behaviour of lipid bilayers under AC voltages will allow for further insight on how the cell's plasma membrane reacts to suddent variations in voltages.