Estimating the subcellular absorption of electric field energy: equations for an ellipsoidal single shell model

An oriented single shell model is used to describe the absorption of electric field energy for a cell of the general ellipsoidal shape exposed to a homogeneous AC-field. A finite element approach allowed us to derive characteristic equations describing the dependence of the field distribution on the cell geometry, the electric properties of the structural media, membrane and bulk solutions, as well as on the field frequency with a subcellular resolution. Finally, equations were derived for the absorption at certain sites of the model. The model allows for the introduction of frequency-dependent cellular media properties. Experimentally, the new cell parameters can be verified by dielectric single-cell spectroscopy.