title: [The enhanced lethality of cells in suspension during simultaneous exposure to pulsed electrical and shock-wave acoustic fields].
abstract: We present the results of comparative experimental studies of the damaging effect of intense electrical field with a microsecond duration range, shock acoustic wave, and their combination on the ovary carcinoma cells. We found that upon a combined effect of pulse electrical and acoustic shock-wave fields of a moderate amplitude, practically all cells died. A qualitative physical model is proposed, which accounts for enhanced damage upon combined effect, on the one hand, by a decreased threshold of electric intensity of the cytoplasmic membrane breakdown at a temporal phase of pressure compression of the shock-wave pulse and, on the other hand, by a growth of cavitational embryos at a temporal phase of the action of stretching tensions of the shock-wave pulse, whose role is played by hydrophobic type pores appeared as a result of the membrane electrical breakdown. Possibilities of practical application of the proposed combined effect are discussed: in oncology for suppression of tumor growth and in biotechnology for cell disintegration and ecologically pure sterilization of liquid media.
authors.affiliation: International Institute of Applied Physics and High Technologies, Moscow, Russia.
authors.forename: Iu V
authors.initials: IuV
authors.lastname: Andriianov
authors.forename: V P
authors.initials: VP
authors.lastname: Smirnov
mesh_terms: D002277:Carcinoma / Q000473:pathology*; D002452:Cell Count; D016923:Cell Death; D004560:Electricity / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields / Q000009:adverse effects; D005260:Female; D019220:High-Energy Shock Waves / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D013997:Time Factors; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured