title: Cadmium and thallous ion permeabilities through lipid bilayer membranes.
abstract: Cadmium (Cd2+) and thallous ion (Tl+) permeabilities were measured in planar (Mueller-Rudin) lipid bilayer membranes made from diphytanoylphosphatidylcholine in decane. Permeabilities of the electroneutral Cl- complexes, measured with tracers (109Cd and 204Tl), were about 10(-8) cm X s-1 for CdCl2 and 10(-6) cm X s-1 for TlCl. Electrical conductance measurements showed that permeabilities to Cd2+ and Tl+ were approx. 10(-11) cm X s-1, similar to the Na+ permeability. The low permeabilities to both Cd2+ and CdCl2 are consistent with biological studies which suggest that Cd transport and toxicity are protein mediated and correlated with Cd2+, not CdCl2, concentration. However, the low bilayer permeability to Tl+ raises questions about recent reports that Tl+ is a lipid permeable cation in biological membranes and liposomes. An alternative explanation for the lipid permeable behavior of Tl+ is presented, based on the diffusion of TlCl and other complexes of Tl+ with inorganic and organic anions.
mesh_terms: D002104:Cadmium; D008051:Lipid Bilayers; D008628:Mercury; D008954:Models, Biological; D010539:Permeability; D012964:Sodium; D013793:Thallium
chemical_list: D008051:Lipid Bilayers; D002104:Cadmium; D012964:Sodium; D013793:Thallium; D008628:Mercury