Apparatus for measuring membrane characteristics of vesicles
First Claim
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1. An apparatus for measuring membrane characteristics of vesicles and comprising:
- p1 vessel means for containing vesicles and a solution of lipophilic ion;
electrode means, selectively responsive only to the lipophilic ion, for producing an output indicative of lipophilic ion concentration;
arithmetic unit means, electrically connected with said electrode means, for calculating the time-change rate of the detected output from said electrode means and also for calculating the permeability coefficient of the vesicular membrane for the lipophilic ion and/or the membrane potential of the vesicular membrane from said output of said electrode means, from said time-change rate, and from the following input data;
the volume and temperature of the solution, and the total volume and the total surface area of the vesicles suspended in the solution; and
input means for inputting said input data to said arithmetic unit means.
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Abstract
Vesicles are suspended in a lipophilic ion solution and the lipophilic ion concentration is changed by the permeation of the lipophilic ions into the vesicles. An electrode selectively responsive to the lipophilic ions is immersed in the suspension to detect the time-change rate of the electrode potential, thereby to obtain a change in the lipophilic ion concentration with respect to time, from which are measured membrane characteristics of the vesicles, such as the permeability of a vesicular membrane to the lipophilic ions.
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7 Claims
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1. An apparatus for measuring membrane characteristics of vesicles and comprising:
- p1 vessel means for containing vesicles and a solution of lipophilic ion;
electrode means, selectively responsive only to the lipophilic ion, for producing an output indicative of lipophilic ion concentration; arithmetic unit means, electrically connected with said electrode means, for calculating the time-change rate of the detected output from said electrode means and also for calculating the permeability coefficient of the vesicular membrane for the lipophilic ion and/or the membrane potential of the vesicular membrane from said output of said electrode means, from said time-change rate, and from the following input data;
the volume and temperature of the solution, and the total volume and the total surface area of the vesicles suspended in the solution; andinput means for inputting said input data to said arithmetic unit means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
- p1 vessel means for containing vesicles and a solution of lipophilic ion;
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