The measurements of the contact angle for water (W), glycerol (G), formamide (F), ethylene glycol (E) and diiodomethane (D) on a bare cellulose acetate membrane and covered by adsorptive bovine serum albumin (BSA) films were made. The adsorption was performed from solutions in concentration range 0-100 mg/ml. An influence of the membrane porosity on an apparent contact angle was discussed and Cassie and Baxter equation was used for that purpose. It was suggested that some liquids could penetrate in to membrane pores reducing its apparent porosity. To explain such behaviour, the spreading coefficient and the work of adhesion was calculated for the studied liquids. Components and parameters of the surface free energy of a bare cellulose acetate membrane and covered by an adsorptive BSA film were determined for W-G-D, W-F-D and G-F-D three-liquid systems and they were similar for these systems. However, for the hydrated BSA layer those components and parameters for the systems W-G-D, W-F-D were different than those for the system G-F-D. It was stated that after BSA adsorption on that membrane percentage of empty pores decreased, reducing their number almost to 0, at the highest BSA concentrations. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.