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Electrical Breakdown of Lipid Bilayer Membranes

Phenomenology and Mechanism

  • Chapter
Electroporation and Electrofusion in Cell Biology

Abstract

It is known that in the case of a sufficiently strong polarization of cell membranes by an external electric field, processes develop in a membrane which lead to a very significant increase in conductance and permeability. When the field is switched off, the membrane can return from such a high-conducting state to the initial one. This phenomenon is called reversible electrical breakdown (Stampfli, 1958; Zimmermann, 1982). If the amplitude or duration of a pulse is sufficiently large, irreversible damage of the cell membranes occurs. Interest in the study of this phenomenon is based on the existence of important biotechnological applications, many of which have been reflected in this collective book.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The A.N. Frumkin Institute of Electrochemistry, Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 117071, Moscow, USSR

    Leonid V. Chernomordik & Yuri A. Chizmadzhev

Authors
  1. Leonid V. Chernomordik
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  2. Yuri A. Chizmadzhev
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld, FRG

    Eberhard Neumann

  2. American Red Cross, Rockville, Maryland, USA

    Arthur E. Sowers

  3. Science Applications International Corporation, McLean, Virginia, USA

    Carol A. Jordan

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© 1989 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Chernomordik, L.V., Chizmadzhev, Y.A. (1989). Electrical Breakdown of Lipid Bilayer Membranes. In: Neumann, E., Sowers, A.E., Jordan, C.A. (eds) Electroporation and Electrofusion in Cell Biology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-2528-2_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-2528-2_5

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4899-2530-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4899-2528-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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