Preclinical analysis of irreversible electroporation on rat liver tissues using a microfabricated electroporator.
A microfabricated electroporator (MFE) for the irreversible electroporation (IRE) of tissues has been developed by miniaturizing a clinical electroporator with a two-needle array while keeping the same electric field strength distribution. Since IRE was brought to special attention as one of the local tissue ablation techniques to treat tumors, many preclinical studies have been conducted to investigate the efficacy of IRE on animal tissues. However, some technical difficulties have been frequently encountered due to the macroscale dimension of clinical electroporators, particularly in experiments on small animal models such as the mouse or rat. Here, the MFE was proposed to solve the associated problems, resulting in time- and cost-effective experimental procedures. With the developed MFE, the effect of IRE on rat liver tissues was analyzed with time by immunohistological stainings and electrical measurement, and the experimental results were compared with those operated with the corresponding real-scale clinical electroporator.
Choi
Youn-Suk
YS
Department of Bio and Brain Engineering, College of Life Science and Bioengineering, KAIST, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
Kim
Hong-Bae
HB
Chung
Junho
J
Kim
Hyung-Sik
HS
Yi
Jeong-Han
JH
Park
Je-Kyun
JK
D000818:Animals; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D018274:Electroporation / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D020287:In Situ Nick-End Labeling; D008099:Liver / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D055616:Microtechnology / Q000379:methods*; D008954:Models, Biological; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013194:Staining and Labeling; D013696:Temperature