Physiology Commons^™

Afm Study Of Structural Changes In Supported Planar Dppc Bilayers Containing General Anesthetic Isofluorane (Plus Additional Afm Experiments), Chad Mckell, Hiram Conley, David D. Busath

Faculty Publications

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is a remarkable tool for assessing the structural properties of supported lipid planar bilayers under different physiological conditions. Previous work has shown that incorporation of anesthetics into artificial lipid bilayers results in domain formation [1], destruction of lipid aggregates and patches [2], anesthetic-lipid mixed micelle formation [2], and the development of interdigitated phases of reduced thickness compared to anesthetic-free bilayers [3]. In particular, these interdigitated phases are suspected to affect the structure and activity of membrane proteins, such as ion channels, and thus further research with proteinembedded bilayers exposed to anesthetics could reveal the mechanism responsible …