Pulsed Electric Field Effects on Biological Cells.

摘要

A new type of field-cell interaction, 'Intracellular Electromanipulation', by means of nonthermal, wideband electromagnetic radiation is being studied. It is based on capacitive coupling to cell substructures, and has therefore the potential to affect transport processes across subcellular membranes. This was verified experimentally by applying electrical pulses of 60 nanosecond duration, with electric field amplitudes of 50kV/cm to human eosinophils in vitro. Besides causing poration of intracellular membranes without disrupting the outer cell membrane, sub-microsecond pulses were found to induce apoptosis in cells.