Astumian R D, Weaver J C, Adair R K
Department of Surgery, University of Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1995 Apr 25;92(9):3740-3. doi: 10.1073/pnas.92.9.3740.
Oscillating electric fields can be rectified by proteins in cell membranes to give rise to a dc transport of a substance across the membrane or a net conversion of a substrate to a product. This provides a basis for signal averaging and may be important for understanding the effects of weak extremely low frequency (ELF) electric fields on cellular systems. We consider the limits imposed by thermal and "excess" biological noise on the magnitude and exposure duration of such electric field-induced membrane activity. Under certain circumstances, the excess noise leads to an increase in the signal-to-noise ratio in a manner similar to processes labeled "stochastic resonance." Numerical results indicate that it is difficult to reconcile biological effects with low field strengths.
振荡电场可被细胞膜中的蛋白质整流，从而使物质跨膜进行直流传输，或将底物净转化为产物。这为信号平均提供了基础，对于理解极低频（ELF）弱电场对细胞系统的影响可能很重要。我们考虑了热噪声和“过量”生物噪声对这种电场诱导的膜活性的幅度和暴露持续时间所施加的限制。在某些情况下，过量噪声会以类似于“随机共振”过程的方式导致信噪比增加。数值结果表明，很难将生物效应与低场强协调起来。
