Traveling ion channel density waves affected by a conservation law

A model of mobile, charged ion channels embedded in a biomembrane is investigated. The ion channels fluctuate between an opened and a closed state according to a simple two-state reaction scheme whereas the total number of ion channels is a conserved quantity. Local transport mechanisms suggest that the ion channel densities are governed by electrodiffusionlike equations that have to be supplemented by a cable-type equation describing the dynamics of the transmembrane voltage. It is shown that the homogeneous distribution of ion channels may become unstable to either a stationary or an oscillatory instability. The nonlinear behavior immediately above threshold of an oscillatory bifurcation occurring at finite wave number is analyzed in terms of amplitude equations. Due to the conservation law imposed on ion channels, large-scale modes couple to the finite-wave-number instability and have thus to be included in the asymptotic analysis near the onset of pattern formation. A modified Ginzburg-Landau equation extended by long-wavelength stationary excitations is established, and it is highlighted how the global conservation law affects the stability of traveling ion channel density waves.