The Journal of General Physiology, Vol 15, 641-649,
Copyright © 1932 by The Rockefeller University Press
ELECTRIC PHASE ANGLE OF CELL MEMBRANES
Kenneth S. Cole 1
1 From the Department of Physiology, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York
From the theory of an electric network containing any combination of resistances and a single variable impedance element having a constant phase angle independent of frequency, it is shown that the graph of the terminal series reactance against the resistance is an arc of a circle with the position of the center depending upon the phase angle of the variable element.
If it be assumed that biological systems are equivalent to such a network, the hypotheses are supported at low and intermediate frequencies by data on red blood cells, muscle, nerve, and potato. For some tissues there is a marked divergence from the circle at high frequencies, which is not interpreted.
Accepted on April 4, 1932