Cell Membrane Electroporation
Application ID: 137961
Electroporation is a technique where a localized electric field is used to generate nanometric pores in cell membranes, improving the cell permeability for ions and pharmaceuticals. This model shows the electroporation of a spherical cell by means of a nanosecond electric pulse. The model uses the Electric Current Interface, Boundary Ordinary Differential Equation Interface, and multiple Debye dispersive material data in the Time Domain and in the Frequency Domain.
The parameter values of this tutorial model were taken from Ref. 1 with the permission of the authors' research group (Laboratory of Biocybernetics, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia), as well as from Ref. 2 and Ref. 3. The results of the present model are in agreement with those shown in Ref. 4.
References:
1. G. Pucihar, D. Miklavcic, and T. Kotnik, “A Time-Dependent Numerical Model of Transmembrane Voltage Inducement and Electroporation of Irregularly Shaped Cells,” in IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, vol. 56, no. 5, pp. 1491-1501, 2009.
2. R. Büchner, G.T. Hefter, and P.M. May, “Dielectric Relaxation of Aqueous NaCl Solutions,” J. Phys. Chem. A, vol. 103, no. 1, pp. 1–9, 1999.
3. B Klösgen, C Reichle, S Kohlsmann, and KD Kramer, “Dielectric Spectroscopy as a Sensor of Membrane Headgroup Mobility and Hydration,” J. Biophys, vol. 71, no. 6, pp. 325-3260, 1996.
4. E. Salimi, Nanosecond Pulse Electroporation of Biological Cells: The Effect of Membrane Dielectric Relaxation, master’s thesis, Dept. Electrical and Computer Eng., Univ. Manitoba, Winnipeg, 2011.
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