title: Reversible control of current across lipid membranes by local heating.
abstract: Lipid membranes are almost impermeable for charged molecules and ions that can pass the membrane barrier only with the help of specialized transport proteins. Here, we report how temperature manipulation at the nanoscale can be employed to reversibly control the electrical resistance and the amount of current that flows through a bilayer membrane with pA resolution. For this experiment, heating is achieved by irradiating gold nanoparticles that are attached to the bilayer membrane with laser light at their plasmon resonance frequency. We found that controlling the temperature on the nanoscale renders it possible to reproducibly regulate the current across a phospholipid membrane and the membrane of living cells in absence of any ion channels.
authors.affiliation: Photonics and Optoelectronics Group, Department of Physics and Center for NanoScience (CeNS), LMU Munich, Amalienstraße 54, Munich, 80799, Germany.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Urban
authors.affiliation: Photonics and Optoelectronics Group, Department of Physics and Center for NanoScience (CeNS), LMU Munich, Amalienstraße 54, Munich, 80799, Germany.
authors.forename: Silke R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Kirchner
authors.affiliation: Photonics and Optoelectronics Group, Department of Physics and Center for NanoScience (CeNS), LMU Munich, Amalienstraße 54, Munich, 80799, Germany.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mühlbauer
authors.affiliation: Photonics and Optoelectronics Group, Department of Physics and Center for NanoScience (CeNS), LMU Munich, Amalienstraße 54, Munich, 80799, Germany.|Nanosystems Initiative Munich (NIM), Schellingstraße 4, 80539 Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Theobald
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lohmüller
authors.affiliation: Photonics and Optoelectronics Group, Department of Physics and Center for NanoScience (CeNS), LMU Munich, Amalienstraße 54, Munich, 80799, Germany.|Nanosystems Initiative Munich (NIM), Schellingstraße 4, 80539 Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Jochen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Feldmann
mesh_terms: D002460:Cell Line; D017097:Electric Impedance; D006046:Gold; D006358:Hot Temperature; D006801:Humans; D008051:Lipid Bilayers / Q000528:radiation effects*; D028022:Low-Level Light Therapy; D008566:Membranes / Q000528:radiation effects*; D053758:Nanoparticles
chemical_list: D008051:Lipid Bilayers; D006046:Gold