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Research Highlight

Cations control lipid bilayer memcapacitance associated with long-term potentiation

Electrical stimulation caused cation-selective orientational polarization of water dipoles at the bilayer interface
Electrical stimulation caused cation-selective orientational polarization of water dipoles at the bilayer interface

Scientific Achievement

Electrical stimulation applied to a phospholipid bilayer increased its potential energy associated with long-term potentiation (LTP) due to electric field-induced alignment of water dipoles at the bilayer interface. This process followed the Hofmeister series for cations (K+> Na+>Li+>>Tm3+).

Significance and Impact

Results highlight the importance of structural membrane reorganization to LTP, which requires that the system remain in a non-equilibrium steady state, altering its dielectric properties while dissipating elastic energy in the form of heat.

Research Details

  • Electrical training consisting of a low-frequency sinusoidal voltage was applied to droplet interface bilayers consisting of nm-thick planar lipid bilayers between lipid-coated aqueous droplets in oil.
  • The influence of a series of cations was used to determine the importance of cation hydration and water ordering at the lipid interface to induction of LTP.

H.L. Scott, et al., ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 15 (37), 44533-44540 (2023). DOI:10.1021/acsami.3c09056