Potential study of basement membrane.

The membrane potential of a basement membrane (bovine-anterior-lens-capsule) was studied by use of the Gibbs-Donnan systems. The T.M.S. (Teorell, Meyer, Sievers) theory was applied to these systems for the treatment of experimental data. The results show that, in the basement membrane, the density of fixed charges such as ionogenic groups encountered in heparan sulfate proteoglycan is low. The ratios of the mobilities from the chloride anion and the alkaline cation are different to those in water. In this type of membrane, the mobility of Cl- is higher than the mobilities of K+, Na+ and Ca2+. This result leads us to investigate further the diffusion problem of electrolytes through basement membrane.