Transmembrane voltage induced on altered erythrocyte shapes exposed to RF fields

Abstract

In this article, the transmembrane voltage induced on erythrocyte, codocyte, ovalocyte and spherocyte cell models exposed to a linearly polarised electromagnetic plane wave of frequency 1800 MHz is calculated. For this purpose, a finite element (FE) numerical technique with adaptive meshing is used. The results show that the value of the induced voltage on the original erythrocyte shape is higher than the one observed on the rest of the altered cell geometries studied. The erythrocyte shape and the membrane electric permittivity are shown to play a fundamental role on the values of the induced transmembrane voltage. Bioelectromagnetics 25:631-633, 2004. (C) 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.