Mercury-supported biomimetic membranes for the investigation of antimicrobial peptides

Tethered bilayer lipid membranes (tBLMs) consist of a lipid bilayer interposed between an aqueous solution and a hydrophilic "spacer" anchored to a gold or mercury electrode. There is great potential for application of these biomimetic membranes for the elucidation of structure-function re...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Pharmaceuticals 2014-01, Vol.7 (2), p.136-168
Main Authors: Becucci, Lucia, Guidelli, Rolando
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Antimicrobial agents
cyclic voltammetry
electrochemical impedance spectroscopy
Lipids
Mercury
Peptides
Pharmacology
potential-step chronocoulometry
Review
self-assembled monolayers
tethered bilayer lipid membranes
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Tethered bilayer lipid membranes (tBLMs) consist of a lipid bilayer interposed between an aqueous solution and a hydrophilic "spacer" anchored to a gold or mercury electrode. There is great potential for application of these biomimetic membranes for the elucidation of structure-function relationships of membrane peptides and proteins. A drawback in the use of mercury-supported tBLMs with respect to gold-supported ones is represented by the difficulty in applying surface sensitive, spectroscopic and scanning probe microscopic techniques to gather information on the architecture of these biomimetic membranes. Nonetheless, mercury-supported tBLMs are definitely superior to gold-supported biomimetic membranes for the investigation of the function of membrane peptides and proteins, thanks to a fluidity and lipid lateral mobility comparable with those of bilayer lipid membranes interposed between two aqueous phases (BLMs), but with a much higher robustness and resistance to electric fields. The different features of mercury-supported tBLMs reconstituted with functionally active membrane proteins and peptides of bacteriological or pharmacological interest may be disclosed by a judicious choice of the most appropriate electrochemical techniques. We will describe the way in which electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, potential-step chronocoulometry, cyclic voltammetry and phase-sensitive AC voltammetry are conveniently employed to investigate the structure of mercury-supported tBLMs and the mode of interaction of antimicrobial peptides reconstituted into them.
ISSN:1424-8247
1424-8247
DOI:10.3390/ph7020136