title: Theoretical evidence of maximum intracellular currents versus frequency in an Escherichia coli cell submitted to AC voltage.
abstract: In this work, the problem of intracellular currents in longilinear bacteria, such as Escherichia coli, suspended in a physiological medium and submitted to a harmonic voltage (AC), is analyzed using the Finite-Element-based software COMSOL Multiphysics. Bacterium was modeled as a cylindrical capsule, ended by semi-spheres and surrounded by a dielectric cell wall. An equivalent single-layer cell wall was defined, starting from the well-recognized three-shell modeling approach. The bacterium was considered immersed in a physiological medium, which was also taken into account in the modeling. A new complex transconductance was thus introduced, relating the complex ratio between current inside the bacterium and voltage applied between two parallel equipotential planes, separated by a realistic distance. When voltage was applied longitudinally relative to the bacterium main axis, numerical results in terms of frequency response in the 1-20 MHz range for E. coli cells revealed that transconductance magnitude exhibited a maximum at a frequency depending on the cell wall capacitance. This occurred in spite of the purely passive character of the model and could be explained by an equivalent electrical network giving very similar results and showing special conditions for lateral paths of the currents through the cell wall. It is shown that the main contribution to this behavior is due to the conductive part of the current. Bioelectromagnetics. 38:213-219, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
authors.affiliation: Institut de Microélectronique, Electromagnétisme et Photonique - Laboratoire d'Hyperfréquences et de Caractérisation (IMEP-LAHC), UMR 5130, CNRS/G-INP/UGA, MINATEC, Grenoble, France.|University Grenoble Alps (UGA), Grenoble, France.
authors.forename: Pascal
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Xavier
authors.affiliation: Institut de Microélectronique, Electromagnétisme et Photonique - Laboratoire d'Hyperfréquences et de Caractérisation (IMEP-LAHC), UMR 5130, CNRS/G-INP/UGA, MINATEC, Grenoble, France.|University Grenoble Alps (UGA), Grenoble, France.
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rauly
authors.affiliation: University Grenoble Alps (UGA), Grenoble, France.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Chamberod
authors.affiliation: University Grenoble Alps (UGA), Grenoble, France.|Laboratoire d'étude des Transferts en Hydrologie et Environnement (LTHE), UMR 5564, CNRS/G-INP/IRD/UGA, Grenoble, France.
authors.forename: Jean M F
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Martins
mesh_terms: D055724:Electrophysiological Phenomena; D004594:Electrophysiology / Q000379:methods; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000502:physiology*; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D012984:Software
keywords: Escherichia coli; finite element modeling; harmonic analysis; intracellular currents; optimal frequency