Critical Overview of the Use of Tethered Bilayer Lipid Membranes with Electrochemical Techniques

Studying various substrate interactions with the plasma membrane is difficult due to the large variety of molecules that compose the biological membranes. The importance of understanding plasma membrane interactions, behaviour and properties prompted the development of artificial membranes to recapitulate fundamental aspects of membrane biology. Tethered bilayer lipid membranes (t-BLM) are a versatile type of artificial membrane that enables the simulation of real biological membranes in a controlled, stable environment. Numerous studies have uncovered valuable data using t-BLMs but there are still some unknowns related to t-BLM research that has been overlooked. For example, the effect of unsaturation in phospholipid tails is one of these unknowns. By focusing on gaps in t-BLM research and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy, this manuscript makes evident that further development and classification of t-BLMs is still required to make them a more sound biological mimic.