Comments on a study by Wolf, Siwy, Korchev and Spohr published in Cell. Mol. Biol. Lett. 4 (1999) 553-565.
Attention is drawn to the fact that the non-linear electrical current-voltage characteristic of porous track-etched poly(ethylene terephtalate) membranes, reported by Wolf, Siwy, Korchev and Spohr in Cell. Mol. Biol. Lett. 4 (1999) 553-565, is very similar to that observed with cross-linked polyelectrolyte gel membranes with negatively charged fixed ionic groups (cation exchange membranes). This similarity was overlooked by the authors. The physics of the current-voltage behaviour of cation exchange membranes is fairly well understood. Experiments are proposed with the aim of finding out whether the physics causing the non-ohmic current voltage characteristic is the same for both types of membranes.
Woermann
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Institute of Physical Chemistry, University of Köln, Germany.
D002412:Cations; D004553:Electric Conductivity; D004563:Electrochemistry / Q000379:methods*; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel / Q000379:methods; D008564:Membrane Potentials; D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques / Q000379:methods*
D002412:Cations