Bilayer Lipid Membranes (BLM) in Aqueous Media: Interfacial Aspects and Potential Applications

The sensory transduction in living cells is thought to involve a change of electrical parameters across the reccptor membrane following a specific binding event at the membrane surface. Because of complexities of the biomembrane structure and environmental factors associated with it, experimental bilayer lipid membranes (planar BLMs and vesicular liposomes) have been employed in the elucidation of a host of processes at the membrane level. Recent advances in microelectronics and biotechnology have aroused interest in the development of BLM-based eletrochemical/biosensors. This paper reviews, in the first part, the techniques of BLM formation and the fundamental properties af BLMs from the viewpoint of surface science. In the second part of the paper, a variety of electrochemical/biosensors based on the BLM are described. The presence of ubiquitious interfaces and ultrathin bilayer lipid membranes are expected to play an increasingly important role in the development of biomolecular electronic devices.