title: Destabilization induced by electropermeabilization analyzed by atomic force microscopy.
abstract: Electropermeabilization is a physical method that uses electric field pulses to deliver molecules into cells and tissues. Despite its increasing interest in clinics, little is known about plasma membrane destabilization process occurring during electropermeabilization. In this work, we took advantage of atomic force microscopy to directly visualize the consequences of electropermeabilization in terms of membrane reorganization and to locally measure the membrane elasticity. We visualized transient rippling of membrane surface and measured a decrease in membrane elasticity by 40%. Our results obtained both on fixed and living CHO cells give evidence of an inner effect affecting the entire cell surface that may be related to cytoskeleton destabilization. Thus, AFM appears as a useful tool to investigate basic process of electroporation on living cells in absence of any staining or cell preparation.
authors.affiliation: CNRS, LAAS, 7 avenue du colonel Roche, F-31400 Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Louise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chopinet
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Roduit
authors.forename: Marie-Pierre
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Rols
authors.forename: Etienne
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dague
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016466:CHO Cells; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000737:chemistry*; D002463:Cell Membrane Permeability; D006224:Cricetinae; D003599:Cytoskeleton / Q000737:chemistry*; D004548:Elasticity; D018274:Electroporation; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force
keywords: AFM; Atomic Force Microscopy; Atomic force microscope; CHO; Chinese Hamster Ovary Cell; Cytoskeleton; EP; Electropermeabilization; Electroporation; Living cells; QI™; Quantitative Imaging™; Stiffness; YM; Young Modulus