DIELECTRIC BEHAVIOR OF SPHERICAL CELL-SUSPENSIONS IN RELATION TO DIFFUSION EFFECTS AND PRESENCE OF A NUCLEUS

The diffusive effects in cytoplasmic membranes in relation to the dielectric behavior of a suspension of conducting shells, with a fixed charge on the inner side, have been investigated. Quasi-static approximations to Poisson's equations were solved for the respective diffusive media and the local charge distributions were derived by taking into account the continuity equations. The results describe both alpha and beta dispersion and reduce, in the corresponding limiting cases, to those previously presented by other workers. An additional increment of suspension permittivity in the alpha-dispersion range, due to the diffusive effects in membrane, was found. It is shown that given an adequate geometry, the presence of a cellular nucleus has no effect on the suspension dielectric behavior in the beta-dispersion range.