System for measuring planar lipid bilayer properties.

We present a system for measuring planar lipid bilayer properties. The system is composed of a control unit, an output stage, an LCR meter, pumps for filling reservoirs, a bath with temperature regulation and a measurement chamber with four electrodes. The planar lipid bilayer is automatically formed using a folding method on apertures of different sizes. The automatization is assured by two syringes, which are clamped in actuators. Actuators are driven and controlled by a control unit via RS-232 communication. The temperature of the planar lipid bilayer can be regulated between 15 and 55 °C. The regulation is assured by insertion of the measurement chamber into the temperature-regulated bath. Different shapes of voltage- or current-clamp signals can be applied to the planar lipid bilayer. By measuring the response of the planar lipid bilayer to the applied signal, the capacitance and breakdown voltage of the planar lipid bilayer can be determined. The cutoff frequencies of the system output stage for voltage- and current-clamp methods are 11 and 17 kHz, respectively.