Cells keep membrane lipid asymmetry by maintaining different lipids into the outer and inner leaflets of the bilayer. The process of water permeation across lipid membranes has significant implications for cellular physiology and homeostasis. To understand the functional consequences of lipid asymmetry and the role it might play in creating a barrier to water permeation, we have created a symmetric and asymmetric bilayer using a Droplet Interface Bilayer (DIB) as a model for cell membrane. A DIB is made by contacting two aqueous droplets covered with a lipid monolayer, and has increasingly been employed as a model artificial biological membrane. Two types of lipids are used to form a symmetric and asymmetric bilayer, 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine and Sphingomyelin. Both permeability values and activation energies have been extracted for water transport across a lipid bilayer formed of these lipids. The results allow us to make ready comparisons between the different lipids and potentially better elucidate the contribution that asymmetry makes to the permeation process.<br/>

Control of membrane water permeability in asymmetric droplet interface bilayer

256th National Meeting (2018)

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