Porous Materials to Support Bilayer Lipid Membranes for Ion Channel Biosensors

Table 1

Properties of filter materials as porous supports.

Filter material	Thickness (μm)^a	Contact angle (degrees)	Bubble point^ab	BLM formed % (n)	Longevity^c min.(n)	Na^+ current^e % (n)
PTFE	140	141	0.70	100 (15)	101 ± 7 (22)^d	40 (10)
Nylon	65–125	135	0.21	71 (14)	18 ± 3 (9)	38 (8)
Silanised Ag	50	109	n/a	92 (12)	38 ± 5 (12)	13 (8)
Unsilanised Ag	50	60	0.14	30 (10)	< 5 (3)	—
Polycarbonate	10	70–90^a	0.08	100 (13)	29 ± 5 (14)	0 (8)
PVDF	125	n/a	n/a	0 (10)	—	—

^aData from manufacturer in methods. ^bAlcohol bubble point (kg.cm⁻²). ^cMean ± S.E.M. ^dPTFE monitored for up to 2 h, 73% lasted > 2 h. ^eNumber of experiments that gave Na⁺ current increases in supported BLMs preloaded with VGSC liposomes after activation by veratridine and were inhibited by saxitoxin. n/a, data not available.