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Updated: Jun 19, 2026

Phase Behavior of Charged Vesicles Under Symmetric and Asymmetric Solution Conditions Monitored with Fluorescence Microscopy
Published on: October 24, 2017
ELECTRIC PHASE ANGLE OF CELL MEMBRANES
1Department of Physiology, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York.
Abstract:
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.
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