Electrically silent anion transport through bilayer lipid membrane induced by tributyltin and triethyllead.

The method of the measurement of the nonelectrogenic fluxes of hydrogen (or hydroxyl) ions (JH) based on the local proton gradients formation in the unstirred layers near a bilayer lipid membrane (BLM) is applied for recording the nonelectrogenic anion/OH- exchange on BLM induced by tributyltin (TBT) and a novel carrier (Hager, A., Moser, I., & Berthold, W. 1987. Z. Naturforsch., 42C:1116-1120), triethyllead (TEL). This method has been used previously for measuring the cation fluxes through BLM. TBT and TEL are shown to be equally efficient in the induction of Cl-/OH- exchange. JH induced by TBT is constant at 4 less than pH less than 7. JH decreases at pH less than 4 and pH greater than 7. Both ionophores have a transport sequence: I- greater than Br- greater than Cl- greater than F-. The quantitative measurements reveal that TEL better discriminates these four anions than TBT. It is concluded that this method may prove helpful in a search and study of anion/OH(-)-exchangers isolated from natural membranes.