SIMPLE-MODEL OF INTERMEMBRANE COMMUNICATION BY MEANS OF COLLECTIVE EXCITATIONS MODIFIED BY AN ELECTRIC-FIELD

The effect of an external electric field, caused by ions, whose collis ions with the membrane surface influence the properties of a single li pid chain, is considered, The set of difference-differential equations of motion describing the lipid as a chain of damped harmonic oscillat ors is solved and discussed. The surface collective excitations are th en generated and modified by an electric field in the surrounding envi ronment. They are described using four parameters characteristic of ha rmonic oscillators, The transmission of the changes caused by this mod ification is analysed as a mechanism of the communication between memb ranes, The collective excitations treated as a source of membrane elec trostimulation are related to recently published models for this pheno menon.