POSITIVE DIFFERENTIAL CONDUCTANCE INSTABILITY IN FLAT ISOLATED BIOMEMBRANES

The cable model describes the electric behavior of a biological cell m embrane. For positive membrane conductance its potential is stable. Th is model does not explicitly take into account diffusion effects. We s how that if the diffusion of the different ionic species is taken into account, an instability can set in for a positive global differential conductance. The instability is then characterized by a spatial modul ation of the membrane potential and the occurrence of ionic circulatio ns. (C) Academie des Sciences/Elsevier, Paris.