Solution exchange of droplet contacting lipid bilayer system

This paper describes a bilayer lipid membranes (BLMs) chip capable of solution exchange. In the previous report, we successfully reconstituted α-hemolysin (αHL) in BLMs using droplets contacting method with an array device. For drug screening, solution exchange is required to test the effect of inhibitors or promoters for proteins. In this study, we attempted to exchange the solution in a droplet using a microfluidic channel (Figure 1). We could successfully inject desired solution into the droplet forming BLMs and to withdraw the initial solution out of a droplet. The electrical signal of αHL with its some blockers which was injected later instead of the initial signal was successfully recorded. We consider that this method will enable more accurate and efficient drug screening system using artificially BLMs and reconstituted membrane protein.