title: Assessment of cytoplasm conductivity by nanosecond pulsed electric fields.
abstract: The aim of this paper is to propose a new method for the better assessment of cytoplasm conductivity, which is critical to the development of electroporation protocols as well as insight into fundamental mechanisms underlying electroporation. For this goal, we propose to use nanosecond electrical pulses to bypass the complication of membrane polarization and a single cell to avoid the complication of the application of the "mixing formulas." Further, by suspending the cell in a low-conductivity medium, it is possible to force most of the sensing current through the cytoplasm for a more direct assessment of its conductivity. For proof of principle, the proposed technique was successfully demonstrated on a Jurkat cell by comparing the measured and modeled currents. The cytoplasm conductivity was best assessed at 0.32 S/m and it is in line with the literature. The cytoplasm conductivity plays a key role in the understanding of the basis mechanism of the electroporation phenomenon, and in particular, a large error in the cytoplasm conductivity determination could result in a correspondingly large error in predicting electroporation. Methods for a good estimation of such parameter become fundamental.
authors: Agnese
authors: A
authors: Denzi
authors: Caterina
authors: C
authors: Merla
authors: Cristiano
authors: C
authors: Palego
authors: Alessandra
authors: A
authors: Paffi
authors: Yaqing
authors: Y
authors: Ning
authors: Caroline R
authors: CR
authors: Multari
authors: Xuanhong
authors: X
authors: Cheng
authors: Francesca
authors: F
authors: Apollonio
authors: James C M
authors: JC
authors: Hwang
authors: Micaela
authors: M
authors: Liberti
mesh_terms: D003584:Cytological Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000502:physiology*; D004553:Electric Conductivity; D018274:Electroporation / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D019169:Jurkat Cells; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation; D008954:Models, Biological; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000295:instrumentation