Impedance dispersion in liposomes measures the lateral charge transfer of lipid membrane surfaces. Depending on the choice of frequency between 1 kHz and 100 GHz, relaxation of the counterions at the interface, orientation of the head group, and relaxation of the bound and free water are revealed. This study measured the impedance dispersion in dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) liposomes at 10 kHz. The surface conductance and capacitance showed breaks at pre- and main transition temperatures. Below the pre-transition temperature, the activation energy of the ion movement was 18.1 kJ · mol-1, which corresponded to that of the spin-lattice relaxation time of water (18.0 kJ · mol-1). At temperatures between pre- and main transition it increased to 51.3 kJ · mol-1, and agreed with 46.2-58.0 kJ · mol-1 of the activation energy of the dielectric relaxation of ice. Because the present system was salt-free, the ions were H3O+ and OH-, hence, their behavior represents that of water. The above results show that below the pre-transition temperature, the conductance is regulated by the mobility of free ions, or the number of free water molecules near the interface. On the other hand when the temperature exceeded pre-transition, melting of the surface-bound water crystals became the rate-limiting step for the proton flow. Halothane did not show any effect on the ion movement when the temperature was below pre-transition. When the temperature exceeded pre-transition, 0.35 mM halothane (equilibrium concentration) decreased the activation energy of the ion movement to 29.3 kJ · mol-1. This decrease indicates that halothane enhanced the release of the surface-bound water molecules at pre-transition. The surface-disordering effect of halothane was also shown by depression of the pre-transition temperature and decrease of the association energy among head groups from 9.7 kJ · mol-1 of the control to 5.2 kJ · mol-1 at 0.35 mM. © 1990.
