Electrical Impedance of Nerve During Activity

Abstract

ALTERNATING current impedance measurements made over a wide frequency range show that the membranes of many living cells, including those of several nerve fibres¹, have electrical capacities of about one microfarad per square centimetre. The leakage conductance of the membranes of resting cells is small and there is considerable variation in the phase angle, which is assumed to be a measure of the dielectric loss. These same characteristics have been found from transverse impedance measurements, made with the current flow perpendicular to the cell axis, on the long single cell of the plant Nitella² and the giant nerve fibre of the stellar nerve of the squid, Loligo pealii³.