title: Preparation of artificial bilayers for electrophysiology experiments.
abstract: Planar lipid bilayers, also called artificial lipid bilayers, allow you to study ion-conducting channels in a well-defined environment. These bilayers can be used for many different studies, such as the characterization of membrane-active peptides, the reconstitution of ion channels or investigations on how changes in lipid bilayer properties alter the function of bilayer-spanning channels. Here, we show how to form a planar bilayer and how to isolate small patches from the bilayer, and in a second video will also demonstrate a procedure for using gramicidin channels to determine changes in lipid bilayer elastic properties. We also demonstrate the individual steps needed to prepare the bilayer chamber, the electrodes and how to test that the bilayer is suitable for single-channel measurements.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medical College, USA. ruchi.kapoor@med.cornell.edu
authors.forename: Ruchi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kapoor
authors.forename: Jung H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Helgi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ingolfson
authors.forename: Olaf Sparre
authors.initials: OS
authors.lastname: Andersen
mesh_terms: D004566:Electrodes; D004594:Electrophysiology / Q000379:methods*; D008051:Lipid Bilayers / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D008051:Lipid Bilayers