Chapter 16. Concepts of Electroporation Pulse Generation and Overview of Electric Pulse Generators for Cell and Tissue Electroporation

It is well accepted now that the efficacy of electroporation, a phenomenon that occurs in lipid membranes exposed to strong electric fields, depends on several physical and biological parameters These are parameters of the electric field (i.e., pulse amplitude , pulse duration, number of pulses, pulse repetition frequency, pulse shape, and electric field direction) Cell parameters are diverse and usually cannot be controlled. Therefore, in electroporation applications, the parameters of the elec-troporation signal are optimized to specific cells, tissues, and most of all to achieving electroporation objectives. For example, in DNA transfection, the pulse amplitude is optimized to the specific cell size to achieve reversible cell membrane electroporation and to the pulse duration to allow plasmid DNA membrane complex formation, which then leads to gene expression. Electroporation can be reversible or irreversible (Figure 16.1), where reversibility/irreversibility is related to cell survival/death. Reversible Advanced BLOCKINElectroporation BLOCKINTechniques BLOCKINin BLOCKINBiology BLOCKINand BLOCKINMedicine electroporation can be even further optimized for specific objectives, for example, the introduction of small and large molecules, the fusion of cells, and the insertion of proteins into the cell membrane. At this optimization, auxiliary pulses are sometimes used, such as electrophoretic pulses for DNA and dielectrophoretic pulses for cell pearl chain formation in fusion. Nowadays, electroporation is widely used in various biological, medical, and biotechnological appli