Abstract
AMPHOTERICIN B and nystatine increase the permeability of lipid membranes to ions, water and non-electrolytes1,2. Cholesterol (or some other sterols) is a necessary membrane component for the antibiotics to be effective1,3. Permeability to water and non-electrolytes increases linearly with ion permeability2. The molecules of the size of glucose and larger are essentially impermeant. It is concluded2,4 that amphotericin B and nystatine form aqueous pores with an effective radius of approximately 4 Å in thin lipid membranes. The changes in membrane conductance connected with the formation of a single pore have, however, not yet been observed. In this paper the properties of individual conductance channels induced in black lipid membranes by amphotericin B and nystatine are described briefly.
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References
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ERMISHKIN, L., KASUMOV, K. & POTZELUYEV, V. Single ionic channels induced in lipid bilayers by polyene antibiotics amphotericin B and nystatine. Nature 262, 698–699 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1038/262698a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/262698a0
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