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Membranes
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Electrical Phenomena in Biological and Biomimetic Membranes
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Electrical Phenomena in Biological and Biomimetic Membranes

A special issue of Membranes (ISSN 2077-0375). This special issue belongs to the section "Biological Membrane Composition and Structures".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2022) | Viewed by 22555

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Joanna Kotyńska

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Laboratory of Bioelectrochemistry, Department of Physical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Bialystok, 15-245 Bialystok, Poland
Interests: lipid membranes; liposomes; new pollutants; toxicology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Monika Naumowicz

E-Mail Website
Co-Guest Editor
Laboratory of Bioelectrochemistry, Department of Physical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Bialystok, 15-245 Bialystok, Poland
Interests: lipid membranes; liposomes; emerging pollutant; toxicology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Biological membranes are highly diverse in structure, and the distribution of different lipids which comprise their main components varies at the organism, cell type, or organelle level. In biological systems, electrokinetic effects play an important role; for example, vesicles respond to applied electric fields, giving rise to a variety of phenomena, including membrane flow, electroporation, and fusion. The characterization of the charge properties of membranes can be performed using a variety of different methods: electrophoresis, electroosmosis, sedimentation potential, or streaming potential. The electrokinetic phenomena that result from transient changes in the potentials provide the basis for a contemporary understanding of the electrophysiology of biomembranes, which is crucial to understanding many phenomena occurring in cells.

Research in the field of electrical membrane phenomena has been conducted at a high level of activity for several years, covering an extremely diverse range of topics. Nevertheless, since electrical interactions between biomembrane components underlie many membrane properties and functions, the main focus of this forthcoming Special Issue is to increase our knowledge of the electrical phenomena in biological membranes by assembling state-of-the-art research articles and reviews on the topic.

Dr. Joanna Kotyńska
Dr. Monika Naumowicz
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Membranes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Biological cells and model systems
  • Liposomes
  • Lipid mono- and bilayers
  • Biologically active compounds
  • Electrokinetic phenomena
  • Electrical double layers
  • Surface characteristics of membranes
  • Electrochemical methods
  • Membrane fusion
  • Electrical transport measurements
  • Electroporation

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Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

Jump to: Review

11 pages, 1459 KiB  
Article
Determining the Bending Rigidity of Free-Standing Planar Phospholipid Bilayers
by Oscar Zabala-Ferrera, Paige Liu and Peter J. Beltramo
Membranes 2023, 13(2), 129; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes13020129 - 19 Jan 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2395
Abstract
We describe a method to determine membrane bending rigidity from capacitance measurements on large area, free-standing, planar, biomembranes. The bending rigidity of lipid membranes is an important biological mechanical property that is commonly optically measured in vesicles, but difficult to quantify in a [...] Read more.
We describe a method to determine membrane bending rigidity from capacitance measurements on large area, free-standing, planar, biomembranes. The bending rigidity of lipid membranes is an important biological mechanical property that is commonly optically measured in vesicles, but difficult to quantify in a planar, unsupported system. To accomplish this, we simultaneously image and apply an electric potential to free-standing, millimeter area, planar lipid bilayers composed of DOPC and DOPG phospholipids to measure the membrane Young’s (elasticity) modulus. The bilayer is then modeled as two adjacent thin elastic films to calculate bending rigidity from the electromechanical response of the membrane to the applied field. Using DOPC, we show that bending rigidities determined by this approach are in good agreement with the existing work using neutron spin echo on vesicles, atomic force spectroscopy on supported lipid bilayers, and micropipette aspiration of giant unilamellar vesicles. We study the effect of asymmetric calcium concentration on symmetric DOPC and DOPG membranes and quantify the resulting changes in bending rigidity. This platform offers the ability to create planar bilayers of controlled lipid composition and aqueous ionic environment, with the ability to asymmetrically alter both. We aim to leverage this high degree of compositional and environmental control, along with the capacity to measure physical properties, in the study of various biological processes in the future. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electrical Phenomena in Biological and Biomimetic Membranes)
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15 pages, 2575 KiB  
Article
Effect of Cobalt Ferrite Nanoparticles in a Hydrophilic Shell on the Conductance of Bilayer Lipid Membrane
by Andrey Anosov, Oksana Koplak, Elena Smirnova, Elizaveta Borisova, Eugenia Korepanova and Alice Derunets
Membranes 2022, 12(11), 1106; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes12111106 - 5 Nov 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1513
Abstract
We measured the conductance of bilayer lipid membranes of diphytanoylphosphatidylcholine induced by interaction with cubic magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) of cobalt ferrite 12 and 27 nm in size and coated with a hydrophilic shell. The MNP coating is human serum albumin (HSA) or polyethylene [...] Read more.
We measured the conductance of bilayer lipid membranes of diphytanoylphosphatidylcholine induced by interaction with cubic magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) of cobalt ferrite 12 and 27 nm in size and coated with a hydrophilic shell. The MNP coating is human serum albumin (HSA) or polyethylene glycol (PEG). The interaction of nanoparticles added to the bulk solution with the lipid bilayer causes the formation of metastable conductive pores, which, in turn, increases the integral conductance of the membranes. The increase in conductance with increasing MNP concentration was practically independent of the particle size. The dependence of the bilayer conductance on the concentration of PEG-coated MNPs was much weaker than that on the concentration with a shell of HSA. Analyzing the current traces, we believe that the conductive pores formed as a result of the interaction of nanoparticles with the membrane can change their size, remaining metastable. The form of multilevel current traces allows us to assume that there are several metastable pore states close in energy. The average radius of the putative cylindrical pores is in the range of 0.4–1.3 nm. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electrical Phenomena in Biological and Biomimetic Membranes)
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21 pages, 9999 KiB  
Article
Cytotoxicity of a Cell Culture Medium Treated with a High-Voltage Pulse Using Stainless Steel Electrodes and the Role of Iron Ions
by Gintautas Saulis, Raminta Rodaitė-Riševičienė and Rita Saulė
Membranes 2022, 12(2), 184; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes12020184 - 4 Feb 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2317
Abstract
High-voltage pulses applied to a cell suspension cause not only cell membrane permeabilization, but a variety of electrolysis reactions to also occur at the electrode–solution interfaces. Here, the cytotoxicity of a culture medium treated by a single electric pulse and the role of [...] Read more.
High-voltage pulses applied to a cell suspension cause not only cell membrane permeabilization, but a variety of electrolysis reactions to also occur at the electrode–solution interfaces. Here, the cytotoxicity of a culture medium treated by a single electric pulse and the role of the iron ions in this cytotoxicity were studied in vitro. The experiments were carried out on mouse hepatoma MH-22A, rat glioma C6, and Chinese hamster ovary cells. The cell culture medium treated with a high-voltage pulse was highly cytotoxic. All cells died in the medium treated by a single electric pulse with a duration of 2 ms and an amplitude of just 0.2 kV/cm. The medium treated with a shorter pulse was less cytotoxic. The cell viability was inversely proportional to the amount of electric charge that flowed through the solution. The amount of iron ions released from the stainless steel anode (>0.5 mM) was enough to reduce cell viability. However, iron ions were not the sole reason of cell death. To kill all MH-22A and CHO cells, the concentration of Fe3+ ions in a medium of more than 2 mM was required. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electrical Phenomena in Biological and Biomimetic Membranes)
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13 pages, 3133 KiB  
Communication
On the Role of Electrostatic Repulsion in Topological Defect-Driven Membrane Fission
by Ekaterina Gongadze, Luka Mesarec, Samo Kralj, Veronika Kralj-Iglič and Aleš Iglič
Membranes 2021, 11(11), 812; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes11110812 - 25 Oct 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2055
Abstract
Within a modified Langevin Poisson–Boltzmann model of electric double layers, we derived an analytical expression for osmotic pressure between two charged surfaces. The orientational ordering of the water dipoles as well as the space dependencies of electric potentials, electric fields, and osmotic pressure [...] Read more.
Within a modified Langevin Poisson–Boltzmann model of electric double layers, we derived an analytical expression for osmotic pressure between two charged surfaces. The orientational ordering of the water dipoles as well as the space dependencies of electric potentials, electric fields, and osmotic pressure between two charged spheres were taken into account in the model. Thus, we were able to capture the interaction between the parent cell and connected daughter vesicle or the interactions between neighbouring beads in necklace-like membrane protrusions. The predicted repulsion between them can facilitate the topological antidefect-driven fission of membrane daughter vesicles and the fission of beads of undulated membrane protrusions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electrical Phenomena in Biological and Biomimetic Membranes)
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Review

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15 pages, 1342 KiB  
Review
In Utero Electroporation for Manipulation of Specific Neuronal Populations
by Kotaro Yamashiro, Yuji Ikegaya and Nobuyoshi Matsumoto
Membranes 2022, 12(5), 513; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes12050513 - 11 May 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 5629
Abstract
The complexity of brain functions is supported by the heterogeneity of brain tissue and millisecond-scale information processing. Understanding how complex neural circuits control animal behavior requires the precise manipulation of specific neuronal subtypes at high spatiotemporal resolution. In utero electroporation, when combined with [...] Read more.
The complexity of brain functions is supported by the heterogeneity of brain tissue and millisecond-scale information processing. Understanding how complex neural circuits control animal behavior requires the precise manipulation of specific neuronal subtypes at high spatiotemporal resolution. In utero electroporation, when combined with optogenetics, is a powerful method for precisely controlling the activity of specific neurons. Optogenetics allows for the control of cellular membrane potentials through light-sensitive ion channels artificially expressed in the plasma membrane of neurons. Here, we first review the basic mechanisms and characteristics of in utero electroporation. Then, we discuss recent applications of in utero electroporation combined with optogenetics to investigate the functions and characteristics of specific regions, layers, and cell types. These techniques will pave the way for further advances in understanding the complex neuronal and circuit mechanisms that underlie behavioral outputs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electrical Phenomena in Biological and Biomimetic Membranes)
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17 pages, 1746 KiB  
Review
Giant Unilamellar Vesicle Electroformation: What to Use, What to Avoid, and How to Quantify the Results
by Zvonimir Boban, Ivan Mardešić, Witold Karol Subczynski and Marija Raguz
Membranes 2021, 11(11), 860; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes11110860 - 7 Nov 2021
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 5181
Abstract
Since its inception more than thirty years ago, electroformation has become the most commonly used method for growing giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs). Although the method seems quite straightforward at first, researchers must consider the interplay of a large number of parameters, different lipid [...] Read more.
Since its inception more than thirty years ago, electroformation has become the most commonly used method for growing giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs). Although the method seems quite straightforward at first, researchers must consider the interplay of a large number of parameters, different lipid compositions, and internal solutions in order to avoid artifactual results or reproducibility problems. These issues motivated us to write a short review of the most recent methodological developments and possible pitfalls. Additionally, since traditional manual analysis can lead to biased results, we have included a discussion on methods for automatic analysis of GUVs. Finally, we discuss possible improvements in the preparation of GUVs containing high cholesterol contents in order to avoid the formation of artifactual cholesterol crystals. We intend this review to be a reference for those trying to decide what parameters to use as well as an overview providing insight into problems not yet addressed or solved. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electrical Phenomena in Biological and Biomimetic Membranes)
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17 pages, 3006 KiB  
Review
Surface Characterization of Lipid Biomimetic Systems
by Anibal Disalvo and Maria A. Frias
Membranes 2021, 11(11), 821; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes11110821 - 27 Oct 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2360
Abstract
Zeta potential and dipole potential measures are direct operational methodologies to determine the adsorption, insertion and penetration of ions, amphipathic and neutral compounds into the membranes of cells and model systems. From these results, the contribution of charged and dipole groups can be [...] Read more.
Zeta potential and dipole potential measures are direct operational methodologies to determine the adsorption, insertion and penetration of ions, amphipathic and neutral compounds into the membranes of cells and model systems. From these results, the contribution of charged and dipole groups can be deduced. However, although each method may give apparent affinity or binding constants, care should be taken to interpret them in terms of physical meaning because they are not independent properties. On the base of a recent model in which the lipid bilayer is considered as composed by two interphase regions at each side of the hydrocarbon core, this review describes how dipole potential and zeta potential are correlated due to water reorganization. From this analysis, considering that in a cell the interphase region the membrane extends to the cell interior or overlaps with the interphase region of another supramolecular structure, the correlation of dipole and electrostatic forces can be taken as responsible of the propagation of perturbations between membrane and cytoplasm and vice versa. Thus, this picture gives the membrane a responsive character in addition to that of a selective permeability barrier when integrated to a complex system. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electrical Phenomena in Biological and Biomimetic Membranes)
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