Abstract
The application of high-voltage pulses to biological tissue causes not only electroporation, a non-thermal phenomenon of pore creation within a lipid membrane due to an elevated electric field, but also significant heating. Once a biological membrane is porated, the current density increases several times, causing Joule heating. A combined experimental and theoretical study is reported. The theoretical temperature rise for a 1.25kV cm−1, 6ms pulse is about 11.2K for a tissue conductivity of 0.5Sm−1 (i.e. myocardial tissue) during high-voltage application. Owing to the inhomogeneous electric field obtained with the use of needle electrodes, the temperature rises first at the electrodes, where the field strength reaches a maximum. Only for highly conductive tissue such as muscle was a temperature effect primarily observed in the bulk. Even if the temperature effect is biologically insignificant, it can affect the creation of stabile aqueous pathways by electroporation. The calculation of temperature distribution during high-voltage application, taking the electric field strength and the heat transfer into account, can be a useful tool for electrode optimisation.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Atkins, P. W. (1995): ‘Physical chemistry, 5th edn’ (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1995)
Bodwell, J., Swift, F., andRichardson, J. (1999): ‘Long duration electroporation for achieving high level expression of glucocorticoid receptors in mammalian cell lines’,J. Steroid Biochem. Mol. Biol.,68, pp. 77–82
Brown, R. E., Bartoletti, D. C., Harrison, G. I., Gamble, T. R., Bliss, J. G., Powell, K. T. andWeaver, J. C. (1992): ‘Multiple-pulse electroporation: uptake of a macromolecule by individual cells of saccharomyces cerevisiae’,Bioelectrochem. Bioenerg.,28, pp. 235–245
Chernomordik, L. V., Sukharev, S. I., Abidor, I. G., andChizmadzhev, Y. A. (1983): ‘Breakdown of lipid bilayer membranes in an electric field’,Biochimica et Biophysica Acta,736, pp. 203–213
Dev, S. B., andHofmann, G. A. (1994): ‘Electrochemotherapy—a novel method of cancer treatment’,Cancer Treatment Rev.,20, pp. 105–115
Foster, K. R., andSchwan, H. P. (1989): ‘Dielectric properties of tissues and biological materials: a critical review’,CRC Crit. Rev. Biomed. Eng.,17, pp. 25–104
Glaser, R. W., Leikin, S. L., Chernomordik, L. V., Pastuchenko, V. F., andSokirko, A. I. (1988): ‘Reversible electrical breakdown of lipid layers: formation and evolution of pores’,Biochimica et Biophysica Acta,940, pp. 275–287
Heller, R. (1995): ‘Treatment of cutaneous nodules using electrochemotherapy’,J. Fla. Med. Assoc.,82(2), pp. 147–150
Heller, R., Jaroszeski, M., Atkin, A., Moradpour, D., Gilbert, R., Wands, J., andNicolau, C. (1996): ‘In vivo gene electroinjection and expression in rat liver’,FEBS Lett.,389, pp. 225–228
Mathiesen, I. (1999): ‘Electropermeabilization of skeletal muscle enhances gene transfer’,Gene Ther.,6, pp. 508–514
Mir, L. M., Orlowski, S., Belehradek, J., andPaoletti, C. (1991): ‘Potentiation of the bleomycin cytotoxicity by local electric pulses’,Eur. J. Cancer,27, pp. 68–72
Mir, L. M., Orlowski, S., Belehradek, J., Teissie, J., Rols, M. P., Sersa, G., Miklavcic, D., Gilbert, R., andHeller, R. (1995): ‘Biomedical applications of electric pulses with special emphasis on antitumor electrochemotherapy’,Bioelectrochem. Bioenerg.,38, pp. 203–207
Mir, L. M. (2000): ‘Therapeutic perspectives ofin vivo cell electropermeabilization’,Bioelectrochemistry,53, pp. 1–10
Neumann, E., Schaefer-Ridder, M., Wang, Y., andHolfschneider, P. H. (1982): ‘Gene transfer into mouse lyoma cells by electroporation in high electric fields’,EMBO J.,1, pp. 841–845
Neumann, E., Sowers, A., andJordan, C. (1989): ‘Electroporation and electrofusion in cell biology’ (Plenum Press, New York, 1989)
Okino, M., andMohri, H., (1987): ‘Effects of a high-voltage electrical impulse and an anticancer drug onin vivo growing tumors’,Jpn. J. Cancer Res.,78, pp. 1319–1321
Okino, M., Tomie, H., Kanesada, H., Marumoto, M., Kensuke, E., andSuzuki, H. (1992): ‘Optimal electrical conditions in electrical pulse chemotherapy’,Jpn. J. Cancer Res.,83, pp. 1095–1101
Pliquett, U., andGusbeth, C. (2000): ‘Perturbation of human skin due to application of high voltage’,Bioelectrochem. Bioenerg.,51, pp. 41–51
Pliquett, U., andPrausnitz, M. R. (1999): ‘Electrical impedance spectroscopy for rapid and non-invasive analysis of skin electroporation’, inJaroszeski, M., Gilbert, R., andHeller, R. (Eds): ‘Electrically mediated delivery of molecules to cells: electrochemotherapy, electrogenetheraphy, and transdermal drug delivery by electroporation’ (Humana Press Inc., Totowa, 1999)
Prausnitz, M. R., Bose, V. G., Langer, R., andWeaver, J. C. (1992): ‘Electroporation of mammalian skin: a mechanism to enhance transdermal drug delivery’,Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (USA),90, pp. 10504–10508
Prausnitz, M. R., Lau, B. S., Milano, C. D., Conner, S., Langer, R., andWeaver, J. C. (1993): ‘A quantitative study of electroporation showing a plateau in net molecular transport’,Biophys. J.
Tamada, J. A., Sharifi, J., Bommannan, D. B., Leung, L., Azimi, N., Abraham, W., andPotts, R. O. (1993): ‘Effect of electroporation on the iontophoretic delivery of peptidesin vitro’,Pharm. Res., p. 257
Weaver, J. C. (1993): ‘Electroporation: a general phenomenon for manipulating cells and tissue’,J. Cell. Biochem.,51, pp. 426–435
Weaver, J. C. andChizmadzhev, Y. A. (1996): ‘Theory of electroporation: a review’, inPolk, C. andPostow, E. (Eds): ‘CRC Handbook of biological effects of electromagnetic fields, 2nd edn’ (CRC Press, Boca Raton, 1996), pp. 247–274
Zhang, L., Li, L. N., An, Z. L., Hoffman, R. M., andHofmann, G. A. (1997): ‘In vivo transdermal delivery of large molecules by pressure-mediated electroincorporation and electroporation: a novel method for drug and gene delivery’,Bioelectrochem. Bioenerg,42, pp. 283–292
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Pliquett, U. Joule heating during solid tissue electroporation. Med. Biol. Eng. Comput. 41, 215–219 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02344892
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02344892