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PMID: 8842218 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Electrostatics of a simple membrane model using Green's functions formalism.

Biophysical journal ·Vol. 71 ·No. 2 ·1996-08-00 ·Pages 795-810

von Kitzing E, Soumpasis DM

Abstract

The electrostatics of a simple membrane model picturing a lipid bilayer as a low dielectric constant slab immersed in a homogeneous medium of high dielectric constant (water) can be accurately computed using the exact Green's functions obtainable for this geometry. We present an extensive discussion of the analysis and numerical aspects of the problem and apply the formalism and algorithms developed to the computation of the energy profiles of a test charge (e.g., ion) across the bilayer and a molecular model of the acetylcholine receptor channel embedded in it. The Green's function approach is a very convenient tool for the computer simulation of ionic transport across membrane channels and other membrane problems where a good and computationally efficient first-order treatment of dielectric polarization effects is crucial.

MeSH Terms
Animals Ion Channels/physiology Kinetics Lipid Bilayers Macromolecular Substances Mathematics Membrane Lipids Membrane Proteins Models, Theoretical Potentiometry Receptors, Cholinergic/chemistry,physiology Static Electricity
Chemicals
Ion Channels Lipid Bilayers Macromolecular Substances Membrane Lipids Membrane Proteins Receptors, Cholinergic
Authors & Affiliations
2 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
von Kitzing E
Abteilung Zellphysiologie, Max-Planck-Institut für medizinische Forschung, Heidelberg, Germany. vkitzing@sunny.mpimf-heidelberg.mpg.de
Soumpasis D M
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Article Info
Journal
Biophysical journal
Abbr.
Biophys J
ISSN
0006-3495
DOI
10.1016/S0006-3495(96)79281-0
Email
vkitzing@sunny.mpimf-heidelberg.mpg.de
Published
1996-08-00
Pages
795-810
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
0370626
PMCID
PMC1233536
Subset
IM
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1016/S0006-3495(96)79281-0 PMC Full Text View journal details
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