• Molecule that allows ions to cross lipid bilayers; there are two classes: carriers and channels; carriers, like valinomycin, form cage like structures around specific ions, diffusing freely through the hydrophobic regions of the bilayer; channels, like gramicidin, form continuous aqueous pores through the bilayer, allowing ions to diffuse through.
  CRISP Thesaurus
  National Institutes of Health, 2006
• Chemical agents that increase the permeability of biological or artificial lipid membranes to specific ions. Most ionophores are relatively small organic molecules that act as mobile carriers within membranes or coalesce to form ion permeable channels across membranes. Many are antibiotics, and many act as uncoupling agents by short-circuiting the proton gradient across mitochondrial membranes.
  NLM Medical Subject Headings
  U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2021