title: Mitochondrial membrane permeabilization with nanosecond electric pulses.
abstract: Ultra-short, high-field electric pulses permeabilize plasma and intracellular membranes. We report here nanosecond pulse-induced permeabilization of mitochondrial membranes in living cells. Using four independent methods based on fluorescent dyes--JC-1, rhodamine 123, tetramethyl rhodamine ethyl ester, and cobalt-quenched calcein--we show that as few as five, 4 ns, 10 MV/m pulses delivered at 1 kHz cause an increase of the inner mitochondrial membrane permeability and an associated loss of mitochondrial membrane potential. The most likely interpretation of these results is a pulse-induced permeabilization of the inner mitochondrial membrane.
authors.affiliation: Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering and MOSIS, Information Science Institute, Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA. vernier@usc.edu
authors.forename: P Thomas
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Vernier
mesh_terms: D002463:Cell Membrane Permeability / Q000502:physiology* / Q000528:radiation effects*; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields; D006801:Humans; D019169:Jurkat Cells; D051336:Mitochondrial Membranes / Q000502:physiology* / Q000528:radiation effects*; D011829:Radiation Dosage