[Relationship between ion channel properties and the structure of the lactone ring of polyene antibiotic molecules]

Properties of ionic channels created by amphoterecin B, nystatine and mycoheptin in phospholipid--cholesterol bilayer have been compared. Ionic conductivity and selectivity of channels as well as the frequency of transitions between an open state and a closed one depend on lacton ring structure. Appearance of one more carbonyl group in mycoheptin molecule leads to a decrease of channel anion permeability. Any pair of these antibiotics being added into different aqueous solutions create combined channels. These data confirm hypothesis that polyene antibiotics create channels of two half-pores formed in different monolayers of the membrane.