Collective charge excitations along cell membranes

Abstract

A significant part of the thin layers of counter-ions adjacent to the exterior and interior surfaces of a cell membrane form quasi-two-dimensional (2D) layers of mobile charge. Collective charge density oscillations, known as plasmon modes, in these 2D charged systems of counter-ions are predicted in the present paper. This is based on a calculation of the self-consistent response of this system to a fast electric field fluctuation. The possibility that the membrane channels might be using these excitations to carry out fast communication is suggested and experiments are proposed to reveal the existence of such excitations.