Pulsed Electromagnetic Field Assisted in vitro Electroporation: A Pilot Study

Abstract

Electroporation is a phenomenon occurring due to exposure of cells to Pulsed Electric Fields (PEF) which leads to increase of membrane permeability. Electroporation is used in medicine, biotechnology, and food processing. Recently, as an alternative to electroporation by PEF, Pulsed ElectroMagnetic Fields (PEMF) application causing similar biological effects was suggested. Since induced electric field in PEMF however is 2–3 magnitudes lower than in PEF electroporation, the membrane permeabilization mechanism remains hypothetical. We have designed pilot experiments where Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Candida lusitaniae cells were subjected to single 100–250 μs electrical pulse of 800 V with and without concomitant delivery of magnetic pulse (3, 6 and 9 T). As expected, after the PEF pulses only the number of Propidium Iodide (PI) fluorescent cells has increased, indicative of membrane permeabilization. We further show that single sub-millisecond magnetic field pulse did not cause detectable poration of yeast. Concomitant exposure of cells to pulsed electric (PEF) and magnetic field (PMF) however resulted in the increased number PI fluorescent cells and reduced viability. Our results show increased membrane permeability by PEF when combined with magnetic field pulse, which can explain electroporation at considerably lower electric field strengths induced by PEMF compared to classical electroporation.

Design and Optimization of Pulsed Magnetic Field Generator for Cell Magneto-Permeabilization

“…Field Generator for Cell Magneto-Permeabilization effect has been also confirmed [14], therefore the prototype should be capable to generate high magnetic field (range of several T) and feature a high dB/dt pulse (for induction of transmembrane voltage). At the same time the capability to control the pulse duration should be introduced for parametric study of the phenomenon, however taking into account the high energy of the pulses, the duration should be limited in microsecond range to prevent Joule heating [15].…”

“…Taking into account that the phenomenon is considered to be non-separable from conventional electroporation [14], the capability to control the frequency of pulse repetition should be also introduced [16], [17]. The summary of the generator's parameters is presented in Table I.…”

Overcoming Antimicrobial Resistance in Bacteria Using Bioactive Magnetic Nanoparticles and Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields

“…The cells were subjected to 10 mT, 100 kHz PEMF for 2 min. In both cases, the methodologies were contactless; however, the concomitant delivery of magnetic field pulses after electric field pulses was used to determine if a phenomenon of increased inactivation efficiency by PEF and PEMF can be triggered ( Novickij et al, 2016a ).…”

“…The concept is based on generation of the time-varying pulsed magnetic field, which induces electric field and triggers contactless electroporation ( Kranjc et al, 2016 ). The PEMF method has an additive effect with PEF, which allows significant increase of the treatment efficiency without contamination ( Novickij et al, 2016a , 2017c ). It is a fundamentally new phenomenon, which can be triggered only in extremely high magnetic fields, while the exact mechanism of the effect currently is not fully understood.…”

Technobiology Paradigm in Nanomedicine: Treating Cancer with MagnetoElectric Nanoparticles

“…In parallel, there has been a focus on using the phenomenon of electroporation for enabling a high-efficacy high-specificity cellular uptake of a drug (56)(57)(58)(59)(60)(61)(62)(63). In this case, an electric field above a cell-specific threshold causes a dielectric breakdown of the cell membrane (64).…”