1. Investigating membrane nanoporation induced by bipolar pulsed electric fields via second harmonic generation
- Author
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Bennett L. Ibey, Erick Moen, Hope T. Beier, and Andrea M. Armani
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,Materials science ,030102 biochemistry & molecular biology ,Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous) ,Membrane permeability ,Pulse (signal processing) ,Electroporation ,Analytical chemistry ,Second-harmonic generation ,Plasma ,Nanosecond ,03 medical and health sciences ,030104 developmental biology ,Membrane ,Electric field ,Biophysics - Abstract
Electric pulses have become an effective tool for transporting cargo (DNA, drugs, etc.) across cell membranes. This enhanced transport is believed to occur through temporary pores formed in the plasma membrane. Traditionally, millisecond duration, monopolar (MP) pulses are used for electroporation, but bipolar (BP) pulses have proven equally effective as MP pulses with the added advantage of less cytotoxicity. With the goal of further reducing cytotoxic effects and inducing non-thermal, intra-cellular effects, researchers began investigating reduced pulse durations, pushing into the nanosecond regime. Cells exposed to these MP, nanosecond pulsed electric fields (nsPEFs) have shown increased repairable membrane permeability and selective channel activation. However, attempts to improve this further by moving to the BP pulse regime has proven unsuccessful. In the present work, we use second harmonic generation imaging to explore the structural effects of bipolar nsPEFs on the plasma membrane. By varying the...
- Published
- 2016