[The role of image charge in ionic-electrostatic interactions of proteins and membranes]

The interaction of ions of electrolyte cytoplasm with the electric fields of image charges in adjacent dielectrics (membranes, proteins) was computed. The screening effect of neighbouring ions on the electric field of each image charge was taken into account. It is shown that the forces produced by these image charges are significant only at distances from dielectric surfaces that do not exceed three-four average distances between the charges in the cytoplasm. The forces and energies were computed with which liquid ions push away the surfaces of two adjacent membranes or proteins. It is shown that these values exceed hundreds times normal ionic-electrostatic interactions. The proposed approach taken it possible to explain the experimentally observed behaviour of on cell adhesion, the collective mode of protein interaction in plasma membranes and other phenomena.