Planar bilayer lipid memebranes

The planar bilayer lipid membrane, also known as lipid bilayer membrane, black lipid membrane or simply BLM(s), for short, has been investigated since its inception in 1960, the details of which have been described in a monograph published in 1974. This review is a report on the advances in the BLM research since that time.After a brief introduction, the first five sections consider various aspects of experimental methods, optical properties, thermodynamics of lipid bilayers, permeability, and electrical properties of BLMs. Section 7 deals with the use of BLM as energy transducer, particularly the transduction of light into electrical energy. Section 8, the longest portion of the paper, is devoted to modelling of biomembranes, such as the plasma membrane of cells, the thylakoid membrane of chloroplasts, the cristae membrane of mitochondria, the visual receptor membrane of the eye, and the nerve membrane. The concluding section points out that studies of BLMs facilitate the initial testing of working hypothses and may lead to a better choice of appropriate $\text{in vivo}$ and reconstituted membrane experiments.