title: Low voltage pulses can induce apoptosis.
abstract: Electroporation is used for gene transfection, drug delivery, and cell fusion. While studies have shown that high voltage electroporation induces apoptosis in vitro, a strong electric field can lower cell survival rates. As there are no published reports which have examined apoptotic properties associate with low voltage electric charges, we demonstrated for the first time that consecutive low voltage pulses with a voltage lower than the membrane breakdown threshold of human cells can increase the membrane potential to the threshold required to induce electroporation. This led to apoptosis through caspase pathways. Moreover, necrotic cell damage was less than that caused by high voltage pulses. Therefore, low voltage electroporation can be a suitable anticancer method.
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioengineering and Robotics, Tohoku University, 6-6-01, Aoba, Aramaki, Aoba-ku, 980-8579 Sendai, Japan. matsuki@pfsl.mech.tohoku.ac.jp
authors.forename: Noriaki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Matsuki
authors.forename: Takuji
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ishikawa
authors.forename: Yousuke
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Imai
authors.forename: Takami
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamaguchi
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis; D053148:Caspase 3 / Q000502:physiology; D020169:Caspases / Q000502:physiology; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002470:Cell Survival; D003609:Dactinomycin / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000378:metabolism; D018274:Electroporation; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D003609:Dactinomycin; C025942:7-aminoactinomycin D; C505407:CASP3 protein, human; D053148:Caspase 3; D020169:Caspases