title: Analysis of cell membrane permeabilization mechanics and pore shape due to ultrashort electrical pulsing.
abstract: Cell membrane permeabilization mechanics and the resulting shape of nanopores in response to electrical pulsing are probed based on a continuum approach. This has implications for electropermeabilization and cell membrane transport. It is argued that small pores resulting from high-intensity (approximately 100 kV/cm), nanosecond pulsing would have an initial asymmetric shape. This would lead to asymmetric membrane current-voltage characteristics, at least at early times. The role of the cytoskeleton is ignored here, but can be expected to additionally contribute to such asymmetries. Furthermore, we show that the pore shape and membrane conduction would be dynamic, and evolve toward a symmetric characteristic over time. This duration has been shown to be in the micro-second range.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA 23529, USA. rjoshi@odu.edu
authors.forename: Ravindra P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Joshi
authors.forename: Qin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Hu
mesh_terms: D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002463:Cell Membrane Permeability / Q000502:physiology*; D004553:Electric Conductivity; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields; D018274:Electroporation / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D058608:Nanopores / Q000648:ultrastructure