Cellular membrane potentials induced by alternating fields

Membrane potentials induced by external alternating fields are usually derived assuming that the membrane is insulating, that the cell has no surface conductance, and that the potentials are everywhere solutions of the Laplace equation. This traditional approach is reexamined taking into account mem...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Biophysical journal 1992-12, Vol.63 (6), p.1632-1642
Main Authors: Grosse, Constantino, Schwan, Herman P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Biological membranes
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Membrane physicochemistry
Membranes
Molecular biophysics
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Summary:Membrane potentials induced by external alternating fields are usually derived assuming that the membrane is insulating, that the cell has no surface conductance, and that the potentials are everywhere solutions of the Laplace equation. This traditional approach is reexamined taking into account membrane conductance, surface admittance, and space charge effects. We find that whenever the conductivity of the medium outside the cell is low, large corrections are needed. Thus, in most of the cases where cells are manipulated by external fields (pore formation, cell fusion, cell rotation, dielectrophoresis) the field applied to the cell membrane is significantly reduced, sometimes practically abolished. This could have a strong bearing on present theories of pore formation, and of the influence of weak electric fields on membranes.
ISSN:0006-3495
1542-0086
DOI:10.1016/S0006-3495(92)81740-X