A project of control of a high voltage pulse generator based on Arduino and its peripheral pulse sensor and temperature sensor was proposed for cell irreversible electroporation (IRE) test. By programming Arduino board, the analog photoelectric signal and the partial voltage signal of thermistor collected by pulse and temperature sensors were converted into digital signal and temperature value. The threshold of ECG R wave (>550) and temperature threshold (<37 oC) was set as trigger condition to control an 800 W high voltage pulse generator to release a fixed period pulse. Human lung cancer cells cultured in vitro were used to test and verify, and cell staining was used to evaluate the perforation. The results showed that Arduino and its sensors were sensitive to trigger and feedback. When the high voltage pulse generator was controlled to release 100 pulses with the parameters of 600 V, 1 200 V/cm and 100 ms pulse width, more than 95% of the cells showed nonthermal irreversible electroporation.
Electroporation ; Humans

Aims: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of electroporation on the growth characteristics and antimicrobial activity of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) including Bifidobacterium longum ATCC 15707, Lactobacillus acidophilus ATCC 314, Lactobacillus casei ATCC 393 and Lactobacillus fermentum ATCC 14931. Methodology and results: Electroporation with the strength of electric field at 1.0–3.0 kV/cm for 2-4 millisecond were applied on the bacterial cultures. All bacterial cultures showed significant (P<0.05) increased in cell viability (40%-325%) upon electroporation. Such treatment also increased the acidity of the cell where the pH of cells decreased upon treatment. In tandem with the increased viability, electroporated bacterial cultures also showed higher proteolytic activity compared to the control (P<0.05). The electroporation treatment also increased (P<0.05) the bacteriocin activity of treated cells compared to the control. However, the molecular weight of bacteriocins produced were not affected by electroporation. Treated cells also possessed better antimicrobial activity. According to the results collected, all treated LAB strains showed 11.5%-113.8% higher (P<0.05) inhibitory activity compared to untreated control against tested pathogenic bacteria, Escherichia coli and Listeria monocytogenes that commonly associated with food contamination. Microarray data analysis showed that electroporation regulated the entities encoding for surface protein and transporter. Conclusion, significance and impact of study The results from this study suggested that electroporation could enhance the growth characteristics and antimicrobial activity of LAB by modifying the surface regions of the cells. This result may serve as the reference for food manufacturers to opt for effective biopreservation method and produce food with extended shelf life.
Electroporation ; Lactobacillales

Joule heating has long been considered as the principal component of tissue damage in electrical injury. Recent studies suggest electroporation, a nonthermally medicated mechanism of cell membrane damage, is also an important factor. This study is significant because it directly addresses whether nonthermal mechanisms of cell damage can cause tissue necrosis without visible thermal changes.
Burns ; Wounds and Injuries ; Electroporation

Geobacillus thermoglucosidasius is a kind of Gram-positive facultative anaerobic bacteria. The fast growth rate under high temperature and less susceptibility to microbial contamination enable G. thermoglucosidasius to be a desirable producer of biofuels and high-value-added chemicals for the next-generation industrial biotechnology. However, compared with the classical model strain Escherichia coli, the applications of G. thermoglucosidasius are hampered by its low transformation efficiency. This study aimed at obtaining competent cells with high transformation efficiency through inactivating restriction enzymes, adding cell membrane inhibitors and cell wall weakening agents. The results showed that the electro-transformation efficiency achieved 1.2×10⁴ CFU/(μg DNA) by knocking out four genes encoding restriction enzymes. Adding a certain amount of tween 80, dl-threonine and glycine further increased the competent efficiency about 22.5, 44, and 334 times, respectively. The electro-transformation efficiency was enhanced to 4.6×10⁶ CFU/(μg DNA) under the optimized conditions, laying a foundation for genetic manipulation and metabolic engineering of G. thermoglucosidasius.
Electroporation ; Electroporation Therapies ; Bacillaceae ; Cell Membrane ; Escherichia coli/genetics*

Irreversible electroporation (IRE) is an emerging tissue ablation technique. Compared with thermal ablation technique such as radiofrequency, IRE can achieve focal ablation in a shorter time without heat sink effect while sparing the tissue scaffold. IRE has been demonstrated to be a feasible therapeutic modality for the liver, pancreatic, and prostatic cancer. In recent years, several studies regarding of catheter-directed IRE for digestive tract, bronchus, urinary tract, and myocardium have been performed, which preliminarily demonstrated the safety and efficacy of IRE for tissue ablation under endoscopic or interventional technique. This study summarized the research progress of catheter-directed IRE for tissue ablation. The critical technique and future direction of catheter-based IRE are prosp.
Catheter Ablation ; Catheters ; Electroporation ; Endoscopy ; Humans

Pancreatic cancer has a very poor prognosis. Complete surgical resection remains the only current curative treatment. Locally advanced pancreatic cancer (LAPC) is considered as unresectable because of involvement of celiac and/or mesenteric vessels. The treatment of LAPC is a challenge. Current guidelines suggest systemic therapy. However, the majority of patients will never experience conversion to surgical resection. Thus, in these patients, ablation is an alternative therapy for local control, which causes local destruction while ideally avoiding injury to surrounding healthy tissue. Irreversible electroporation (IRE) is an energy delivery system, effective in ablating tumors by inducing irreversible membrane destruction of cells. IRE demonstrated to be safe in previous studies. However, it is not free from complications, even serious. Here, we reported two cases of the IRE in LAPC patients.
Electroporation ; Humans ; Membranes ; Pancreatic Neoplasms ; Prognosis

This study firstly introduced the mechanism, benefits and applications of irreversible electroporation(IRE) for tumor ablation. In addition, this study also introduced the most advanced IRE systems cleared by FDA or CFDA and IRE research equipment. The clinically licensed IRE systems include the Nanoknife 3.0 of Angiodynamics, the Dophi
Electricity ; Electroporation ; Heart Rate ; Humans ; Neoplasms/therapy*

Microfluidics deals with the manipulation of fluidics in the structure with dimensions of micrometers or nanometers. As an emerging field, microfluidics has numerous advantages, such as controllable fluid flow and reduced reagents consumption. Recently, microfluidic has been applied into the area of cell transfection, providing opportunities to investigate cell transfection process on microscale. This review summarizes recent technical development of cell transfection based on microfluidics, including transfeceted microarray, transfecetion established in miniaturization flowing space, microdrops, microinjection and microfluidic electroporation. The factors that affect the transfection efficiency and improvement approaches are also discussed.
Electroporation ; Microfluidic Analytical Techniques ; instrumentation ; Miniaturization ; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis ; Transfection

AIMTo illustrate the non-equilibrium properties of drug permeation through stratum corneum (SC) to provide theory and method for transdermal drug delivery.

METHODSThe system of side-by-side permeation chambers in vitro was isolated, thus conditions for equilibrium state were decided. And a network thermodynamic model was established. Non-equilibrium and leakage experiments were completed with which tinidazole was pattern drug.

RESULTSThe properties of non-equilibrium including: long term to reach equilibrium state; delay-start of the permeation; uncertainty of initial drug permeable flux. The properties of leakage including: degression of drug permeable flux; changeability of permeation time constant.

CONCLUSIONThe permeation cell is believed to be a non-linear and time variable system.

Administration, Cutaneous ; Electroporation ; Epidermis ; metabolism ; Humans ; In Vitro Techniques ; Permeability ; Tinidazole ; administration & dosage ; pharmacokinetics

We obtained intergenus somatic hybrid between Alhagi pseudalhagi and Astragalus cicer by using electroporation. Agrobacterium rhizogenes A4-transformed A. pseudalhagi protoplasts were treated with iodoacetamide so that they were unable to sustain divisions. A. cicer protoplasts were isolated from a methionine-resistant mutant and did not survive in the medium without plant growth regulator. The intergenus somatic hybrid cells were selected based on physiological complementation between the two parents. We optimized some parameters of electroporation, such as direct current impulse, alternating current impulse and the impulse number. We identified ten hybrid clones by morphological observation, checking the chromosome numbers, isoenzyme analysis and random amplified polymorphic DNA analysis, and obtained regenerated plantlets from three hybrid clones.
Astragalus Plant ; genetics ; physiology ; Electroporation ; Fabaceae ; genetics ; physiology ; Hybridization, Genetic ; Transformation, Genetic