Irreversible electroporation

Esser, A.T., Smith, K.C., Gowiishankar, T.R., Weaver, J.C., 2007. Towards solid tumor treatment hy irreversible electroporation intrinsic redistribution of fields and currents in tissue. Technol. Cancer Res. Treat 6, 261—274. Etter, H.S., Pudenz, R.H., Gersh, I., 1947. The effects of diathermy on tissues contiguous to implanted surgical materials. Arch. Phys. Med. Rehab. 28, 333—344. 

Maor, E., Ivoira, A., Leor, J., Rubinsky, B., 2007. The effect of irreversible electroporation on blood vessels. Technol. Cancer Res. Treat. 6, 307—312. 

When the intensity and duration of the applied electric pulse is sufficiently high, the created nanopores on the cell membrane will be irreversible. The irreversible electroporation is usually performed to release the intercellular contents of the cell for post-processing biological studies or to investigate the mechanical properties of the cell membrane. 

Davalos R, Mir L, Rubinsky B (2005) Tissue ablation with irreversible electroporation. Ann Biomed Eng 33 223-231... 

Al-Sakere B, Andre F, Bemat C, Connault E, Opolon P et al (2007) Tumor ablation with irreversible electroporation. PLoS One 2 el 135... 

Irreversible electroporation results in a loss of turgor, a leakage of cytoplasmic content, and lysis (Rubinsky, 2010), whereas reversible permeabilization leads to the formation of conductive channels across the cell membrane, though the electrically insulating properties will recover within seconds (Glaser et al., 1988 Angersbach et al, 2000). 

Rubinsky, B. (ed.) 2010. Irreversible electroporation. Springer, Heidelberg, Germany. 

As has been described in Ref. 70, this approach can reasonably account for membrane electroporation, reversible and irreversible. On the other hand, a theory of the processes leading to formation of the initial (hydrophobic) pores has not yet been developed. Existing approaches to the description of the probability of pore formation, in addition to the barrier parameters F, y, and some others (accounting, e.g., for the possible dependence of r on r), also involve parameters such as the diffusion constant in r-space, Dp, or the attempt rate density, Vq. These parameters are hard to establish from first principles. For instance, the rate of critical pore appearance, v, is described in Ref. 75 through an Arrhenius equation ... 

Electroporation Required, moderate cost Moderate Irreversible permeation of the membrane... 

The treatment involves the application of very short electric pulses (1-100 ps) at electric field intensities in the range of 0.1-1 kVcm for the reversible permeabilization by means of stress induction in plant cells, 0.5-3 kVcm for the irreversible permeabilization of plant and animal tissues, and 15—40kVcm for the irreversible permeabilization of microbial cells. The aforementioned field intensities lead to the formation of a critical transmembrane potential, which is regarded as being the precondition for cell membrane breakdown and electroporation (Tsong, 1996). 

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