Membrane surface charge density

B. Ehrenberg, Spectroscopic methods for the determination of membrane surface charge density, Methods Enzymol. 127, 678-696 (1986). 

The determination of the number of the SHG active complex cations from the corresponding SHG intensity and thus the surface charge density, a°, is not possible because the values of the molecular second-order nonlinear electrical polarizability, a , and molecular orientation, T), of the SHG active complex cation and its distribution at the membrane surface are not known [see Eq. (3)]. Although the formation of an SHG active monolayer seems not to be the only possible explanation, we used the following method to estimate the surface charge density from the SHG results since the square root of the SHG intensity, is proportional to the number of SHG active cation com-... 

According to the Gouy-Chapman theory, the surface charge densities on the aqueous and membrane sides, and o , respectively, can be expressed as... 

Under UV light irradiation, cis-trans photoisomerization of the ionophore in the membrane occurs. We assume that the cis and trans isomers are both present in the membrane and the cis isomer forms a 1 1 (ionophore-cation) complex with a stability constant, Am.cb- In this case, the surface charge density, and the phase boundary... 

The description of the sorption of charged molecules at a charged interface includes an electrostatic term, which is dependent upon the interfacial potential difference, Ai//(V). This term is in turn related to the surface charge density, electric double layer model. The surface charge density is calculated from the concentrations of charged molecules at the interface under the assumption that the membrane itself has a net zero charge, as is the case, for example, for membranes constructed from the zwitterionic lecithin. Moreover,... 

W. S. Chow and J. Barber, 9-Aminoacridine fluorescence changes as a measure of surface charge density of the thylakoid membrane, Biochim. Biophys. Acta 589, 346-352 (1980). 

The ssDNA was immobilized stronger and faster on the GC surface in the presence of the lipid membrane than on a bare GC surface and using milder conditions [61]. The lipid membrane enhanced the stabihty of ssDNA towards desorption from the GC surface [61,62]. Moreover, the adsorption of ssDNA on BLM induced a conductance enhancement due to (1) structural changes (i.e., defect sites) within the membrane and (2) the increase in negative surface charge density of the membrane. The charge of the phosphate groups of ssDNA induced an increase of cation concentration in the electrical double layer [63]. 

A novel method for the determination of surface charge density at a HMDE coated with a self-assembled phospholipid mono-layer mimicking a biological membrane has been described by Becucci etal. [7] Charge density was calculated by integrating the capacitance current, which flows at the constant potential as a consequence of slight contraction of mercury drop. 

The agreement between the calculated and observed response slopes indicates that the primary factor determining the EMF slope is the surface-charge density which is governed by the ionophore concentration in the membrane. As a result. 

Artificial asymmetric membranes composed of outer membranes of various species of Gram-negative bacteria and an inner leaflet of various phospholipids have been prepared using the Montal-Mueller technique [65]. Such planar bilayers have been used, for example, to study the molecular mechanism of polymyxin B-mem-brane interactions. A direct correlation between surface charge density and self-promoted transport has been found [66]. 

Before considering the interaction between two ion-penetrable membranes, we here treat the interaction between two similar ion-impenetrable hard plates 1 and 2 carrying surface charge density cr at separation h in a salt-free medium containing counterions only (Fig. 18.1) [2]. We take an x-axis perpendicular to the plates with its origin on the surface of plate 1. As a result of the symmetry of the system, we need consider only the region 0 < x < h 2. Let the average number density and the valence of counterions be o and z, respectively. Then we have from electroneutrality condition that... 

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