Electroporation electric pulse generators

Rebersek M, Miklavcic D (2010) Concepts of electroporation pulse generation and overview of electric pulse generators for cell and tissue electroporation. In Pakhomov AG, Miklavcic D, Markov MS (eds) Advanced electroporation techniques in biology and medicine. Lecture notes in physics. CRC PressATaylor and Francis Group, London, chapter 16... 

Compared with the traditional electroporative devices, a very low-intensity electric pulse is usually required to perform microfluidic cell electroporation. This is due to the extremely small space of the electrodes in microfluidic electroporative devices. It significantly reduces the size of the required pulse generator, the amoxmt of generated heat, and safety cautions... 

About 10 years ago, a new, easy and versatile technique for the introduction of larger macromolecules into eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells was established (Neumann et al., 1982 Knight, 1981) it is now commonly known as electroporation (Weaver, 1993). It is mainly a physical process, based on the transient permeabiliza-tion of cell membranes by pulses of sufficiently high electric fields. The underlying membrane phenomenon, called reversible electrical breakdown (REB) followed by transient pore formation, occurs if the transmembrane potential reaches values of 0.5 -1.5 V. Membrane pores are generated and molecules are transported through these pores by diffusion, electrical drift, and electroosmosis. Electroporation seems to be a rather universal process in most natural membranes. 

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