Volume 5, Number 4, pp. 141-144
Effects of ultrasound therapy on bilayer lipid membranes
T.N. Pashovkin and P.A. Grigoriev
Institute of Cell Biophysics, Russian Academy of Sciences, 142290 Pushchino, Moscow RegionWe investigated the action of therapeutical intensity ultrasound on the transfer of a lipid soluble organic anion, tetraphenylborate, across lipid bilayer. Two different effects of the ultrasound were observed: first it reduces the thickness of the of the unstirred water layers near the membrane interface, therefore the equivalent electrical resistance of this region is reduced and the membrane current at a given external DC voltage is increased; and second it generates anion "phonocurrent" at zero DC voltage with flow of anions in the opposite direction from that of the incoming ultrasound wave.