Nano-scale solution of the Poisson-Nernst-Planck (PNP) equations in a fraction of two neighboring cells reveals the magnitude of intercellular electrochemical waves
Fig 6
Stationary solution of the potential, ϕ, the concentration of Na+, K+, Ca2+, and Cl− ions, and the charge density, ρ in the extracellular space between the two cells in simulations with open K+ channels, but closed Na+ channels.
The width of the extracellular space, Le, is varied in the columns. The plots show the solution in the (x, y)-plane for the center of the domain in the z-direction at a point in time when steady state is reached. In the y-direction, we focus on the 50 nm closest to the K+ channels. The coordinates on the axes are shifted so that x = 0 marks the end of the membrane of the pre-junctional cell and y = 0 marks the center of the K+ channels. Note that to improve the visibility of the boundary layer, the scaling of the colorbar is different for the different cases.