Controlling ionic conductivity in lipid polyelectrolyte composite capsules by cholesterol.

The effect of cholesterol on the formation and properties of bilayer lipid membranes deposited on polyelectrolyte multilayered capsules was studied. The permeability of lipid/cholesterol coated capsules for NaCl was derived from osmotic response experiments and ranged from 1.45 x 10(-8) to 2.9 x 10(-8) m.s(-1), which corresponds to a lipid layer conductivity of (0.7-1.4) x 10(-8) S.m(-1). These conductivity values were in good agreement with the value of 0.8 x 10(-8) S.m(-1) obtained by electrorotation and were by 3 orders of magnitude lower than those found earlier for lipid layers on polyelectrolyte capsules in the absence of cholesterol.