@inbook {155, title = {Assessment of Electroporation by Electrical Impedance Methods}, booktitle = {Handbook of Electroporation}, year = {2016}, pages = {1-20 (electronic)}, publisher = {Springer International Publishing}, organization = {Springer International Publishing}, abstract = {

Electroporation causes an immediate increase in cell membrane permeability that results in membrane conductivity increase, which has an effect in the measured impedance of the cell suspension or the tissue. Therefore, impedance measurements offer the possibility to perform real-time assessment of the electroporation phenomenon in a minimally invasive fashion. Nevertheless, impedance measurements in biological organisms depend on many factors and other processes besides the membrane permeabilization. This lack of specificity can be an important drawback for using impedance measurements as an electroporation measure. An equivalent electrical model of cell suspensions and tissues is commonly employed to better understand how the different processes that take place during electroporation can affect the measured impedance of a sample. This chapter briefly overviews the information that can be extracted from impedance measurements during and after the application of electroporation pulses. These measurements have been widely used to observe and analyze the dynamics of the phenomenon. Impedance has the potential to be used as a tool to assess electroporation effectiveness of treatment. A significant conclusion from the experimental studies on the topic is that conductivity measured shortly after treatment appears to be correlated with electroporation effectiveness in terms of cell membrane permeabilization. That is, it has the potential to be used as an electroporation effectiveness indicator. On the other hand, dynamic conductivity during the electroporation pulses, which is much easier to be measured, does not seem to be correlated with electroporation effectiveness.

}, issn = {978-3-319-26779-1}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-319-26779-1_164-1}, author = {Q. Castellv{\'\i} and Borja Mercadal and Antoni Ivorra} } @inbook {Ivorra2010e, title = {{Historical Review of Irreversible Electroporation in Medicine}}, booktitle = {Irreversible Electroporation}, series = {Series in Biomedical Engineering}, year = {2010}, pages = {1{\textendash}21}, publisher = {Springer Berlin Heidelberg}, organization = {Springer Berlin Heidelberg}, address = {Berlin, Heidelberg}, abstract = {

The objective of this chapter is to present a historical review of the field of irreversible electroporation (IRE) in the context of its medical applications. Although relevant scientific observations were made since the 18th century, the electroporation phenomenon was not identified as an increase of membrane permeability until mid 20th century. After that, multiple applications of reversible electroporation emerged in vitro (DNA electrotransfer) and in vivo (electrogenetherapy and electrochemotherapy). Irreversible electroporation was tested commercially in the 60s as a bactericidal method for liquids and foods but its use in the context of medical applications was not studied until the early 2000s as an ablative method. The cell destruction mechanism of IRE is not based on thermal damage and this fact provides to IRE an important advantage over other physical ablation methods: the extracellular scaffolding, including the vessels, is preserved. Several surgical applications are now under study or even under clinical trial: ablation of hepatocarcinomas, ablation of prostate tumors, treatment of atrial fibrillation and treatment of vascular occurrences such as restenosis and atherosclerotic processes.

}, isbn = {978-3-642-05419-8}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-642-05420-4}, url = {http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-642-05420-4}, author = {Antoni Ivorra and Boris Rubinsky}, editor = {Boris Rubinsky} } @inbook {Ivorra2010d, title = {{Irreversible Electroporation}}, booktitle = {Irreversible Electroporation}, series = {Series in Biomedical Engineering}, year = {2010}, pages = {23{\textendash}61}, publisher = {Springer Berlin Heidelberg}, organization = {Springer Berlin Heidelberg}, address = {Berlin, Heidelberg}, abstract = {

Electroporation is the phenomenon in which cell membrane permeability to ions and macromolecules is increased by exposing the cell to short (microsecond to millisecond) high electric field pulses. In living tissues, such permeabilization boost can be used in order to enhance the penetration of drugs (electrochemotherapy) or DNA plasmids (electrogenetherapy) or to destroy undesirable cells (irreversible electroporation). The main purpose of the present chapter is to provide an overview of the electrical concepts related to electroporation for those not familiar with electromagnetism. It is explained that electroporation is a dynamic phenomenon that depends on the local transmembrane voltage and it is shown how a voltage difference applied though a pair of electrodes generates an electric field which in turn induces the required transmembrane voltage for electroporation to occur. Quite exhaustive details are given on how electroporation changes the passive electrical properties of living tissues. Furthermore, some remarks are given about the effects of electroporation on other bioelectric phenomena such as cardiac arrhythmias.

}, isbn = {978-3-642-05419-8}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-642-05420-4}, url = {http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-642-05420-4}, author = {Antoni Ivorra}, editor = {Boris Rubinsky} } @inbook {Silve2010, title = {{Nanosecond pulsed electric field delivery to biological samples: difficulties and potential solutions}}, booktitle = {Advanced Electroporation Techniques in Biology and Medicine}, year = {2010}, pages = {353{\textendash}370}, abstract = {

In this chapter we discuss particular features of the nanosecond electric pulsed fields (nsPEFs) that must be taken into account when experimenting on their delivery to biological samples. The purpose of the chapter is to provide future users of this technology with some advice on how to correctly apply it. It is first analyzed how propagation related phenomena can impact on the actual electric field pulse that is applied to the sample. In particular, it is shown that impedance matching for the exposure chamber will be a key element. It is then proposed to employ monitoring systems for voltage and current signals and some indications about their use and limitations are given. Finally, the electrochemical and thermal consequences of nsPEFs delivery are also discussed. We conclude that only excellent experimental conditions can result in robust, controlled and reproducible data on the nsPEFs biological effects.

}, keywords = {breakdown of dielectric, electrochemical reactions, impedance, matching, materials, monitoring, nanosecond electric pulses, thermal effects, transmission line, waves propagation}, isbn = {978-1-439-81906-7}, author = {Aude Silve and J. Villemejane and Joubert, V. and Antoni Ivorra and L.M. Mir} }