查看文章

We develop a generalized cable model to study the response of cylindrical cells to external electric fields. A class of nonlinear cable models is then introduced by assuming quasielectrostatic conditions and modelling current flow through the membrane in terms of a voltage dependent conductivity and a Fitzhugh-Nagumo type recovery variable. For active cell membranes, we study a model based on cubic membrane nonlinearity, while in the case of passive membranes, a simple diode form is used for the conductivity and the recovery variable is taken to be zero. Space-clamped solutions to these models are then investigated in detail. For the diode model, modulated sinusoidal external fields are considered in order to study nonlinear phenomena such as harmonic generation and demodulation. For the cubic Fitzhugh-Nagumo type model, a variety of complex dynamical behaviour including phase locked limit cycles, quasiperiodicity, intermittancy and chaos are observed for sinusoidal external fields.