Electroporation: Theory of Basic Mechanisms
Abstract
Electroporation is a dramatic and apparently universal p henomenon which occurs in all bilayer-containing membranes. For this reason electroporation has implications for basic understanding of cell membranes, and is also likely to lead to a number of new applications. A quantitative understanding of how electroporation occurs has been lacking. We have made significant progress towards providing descriptions of mechanisms which can quantitatively account for most of the complex electrical behavior of planar bilayer membranes without proteins, and also molecular transport due to electroporation drift. This has set the stage for development of models which describe both electrical behavior and molecular transport of both plane membranes, and of cell membranes. Although originally unanticipated, we were also able to quantitatively estimate the thermal noise limit for possible weak electric field effects in living cells, and showed that the "kT limit" could be small.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 31, 1990
- Accession Number
- ADA227578
Entities
People
- James C. Weaver
Organizations
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology