Cell Death Induced by Subnanosecond Pulsed Electric Fields at Elevated Temperatures

Abstract

The rate of trypan blue uptake of liver cancer cells, indicating cell death, when exposed to subnanosecond high electric field pulses, increased strongly when the temperature was raised above 37 • C. The exposure of Hepa 1-6 cells to 2000 pulses of 200 picosecond duration and electric field amplitudes exceeding 80 kV/cm induced cell death in almost 30% of the cells when the temperature was increased to 47 • C for the time of the pulsing. For temperatures at 37 • C and below, the same exposure to pulsed electric fields did not show any measurable effect. Even for the maximum elevated temperature of 47 • C, thermal effects were not found to cause fatalities for the time of exposure, which was, for 2000 pulses at a repetition rate of 7-9 pulses per second, on the order of 5 min. The effect of temperature on the electrical properties of the cell was measured by means of dielectric spectroscopy. The membrane voltages derived from these values were found to be too low to cause electroporation at room temperature. However, the reduced viscosity of the membrane with temperature is likely to reduce the threshold for poration, and together with the effect of multiple pulses, is considered to be the cause for the observed high death rate of the cells. This argument is supported by molecular dynamics simulations which show an increased probability for pore formation with temperature.

Cell membrane permeabilization by 12-ns electric pulses: Not a purely dielectric, but a charge-dependent phenomenon

“…Moreover, after 1000 pulses, the temperature is almost stabilized at its final value of 28°C. A synergistic effect of electric pulses and temperature has already been described in the literature, but it requires a much higher temperature increase [30][31][32][33][34]. The slight temperature increase obtained during the experiments described above therefore cannot explain the huge permeabilization induced (Fig.…”

Cell stimulation and calcium mobilization by picosecond electric pulses

“…$${\mathrm{\epsilon }}_{\mathrm{normalr},\text{water}}{\mathrm{E}}_{\text{water}}={\mathrm{\epsilon }}_{\mathrm{normalr},\text{mem}}{\mathrm{E}}_{\text{mem}}$$ where the membrane dielectric constant ε r,mem is approximately 10 [33, 34] and the dielectric constant ε r,water of medium and cytoplasm is about 80 (at 298 °K) [33]. The electric field in the membrane is therefore amplified by approximately a factor of 8 over the applied electric field (or, by other estimates [35], by a factor of 20).…”

Photoelectric artefact from optogenetics and imaging on microelectrodes and bioelectronics: new challenges and opportunities

“…While the Rheobase curve demonstrates that shorter pulse-widths require exponentially greater stimulation strengths 113 , there are multiple factors that can influence the accuracy of these prediction, especially at lower pulse-widths 114 . At very high stimulation frequencies and amplitudes, electroporation and thermal injuries lead to cell death, which may have applications in cancer therapy, but precludes neural stimulation 115, 116 . However, ultrafast electrical stimulation has yet to be comprehensively explored.…”