Flicker noise in bilayer lipid membranes

For the first time, we observe long-living voltage fluctuations in a bilayer membrane of diphytanoyl phosphatidylcholine held in current-clamp conditions. These fluctuations follow an increase of the membrane conductance due to the opening of hydrophilic pores induced by the transmembrane voltage, a phenomenon called electroporation. The measured power spectrum for membranes under these conditions is proportional to the reciprocal of the frequency.