Mechanism of the electric response of lipid bilayers to bitter substances

Abstract

In order to clarify by what mechanism the lipid bilayer membrane changes its potential under the stimulation of bitter substances, a microscopic model for the effects of the substances on the membrane is presented and studied theoretically. It is assumed that the substances are adsorbed on the membrane and change the partition coefficients of ions between the membrane and the stimulation solution, the dipole orientation in the polar head, and the diffusion constants of ions in the membrane. It is shown, based on the comparison of the calculated results with the experimental ones, that the response arises mainly from a change in the partition coefficients. Protons play an essential role in the membrane potential variation due to the change in their partition coefficients. The present model reproduces the following observed unique properties in the response of lipid bilayers to bitter substances, which cannot be accounted for by the usual channel model for the membrane potential: 1) the response of the membrane potential appears even under the condition that there is no ion gradient across the membrane, 2) the response remains even when the salt in the stimulating solution is replaced with the salt made of an impermeable cation, and 3) the direction of the polarization of the potential is not reversed, even when the ion gradient across the bilayer is reversed.