We study the flow of electrical currents in spherical cells with a non-conducting core, so that current flow is restricted to a thin shell below the cell’s membrane. Examples of such cells are fat storing cells (adipocytes). We derive the relation between current and voltage in the passive regime and examine the conditions under which the cell is electro-tonically compact. We compare our results to the well-studied case of electrical current flow in cylinder structures, such as neurons, described by the cable equation. In contrast to the cable, we find that for the sphere geometry (1) the voltage profile across the cell depends critically on the electrode geometry, and (2) the charging and discharging can be much faster than the membrane time constant; however, (3) voltage clamp experiments will incur similar distortion as in the cable case. We discuss the relevance for adipocyte function and experimental electro-physiology.

中文翻译：

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具有非导电中心的球形几何细胞的电生理模型

我们研究了具有非导电核心的球形细胞中的电流流动，因此电流被限制在细胞膜下方的薄壳中。这种细胞的例子是脂肪储存细胞（脂肪细胞）。我们推导出被动状态下电流和电压之间的关系，并检查电池电致紧凑的条件。我们将我们的结果与电缆方程描述的圆柱结构（例如神经元）中电流流动的经过充分研究的情况进行了比较。与电缆相比，我们发现对于球体几何形状 (1) 电池两端的电压分布关键取决于电极几何形状，并且 (2) 充电和放电可以比膜时间常数快得多；然而，(3) 电压钳实验将产生与电缆情况类似的失真。