Mathematical-physical modeling and biomedical optimization of cell electropermeabilization: An overview

Cell electropermeabilization is the process that occurs after prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, whether in suspension or belonging to tissues and/or living organisms, are exposed to a proper electric field, and that generates an increased permeability of their plasma membranes. Both in vitro and in vivo, it happens when and where the transmembrane voltage, which is dependent on several physical variables, exceeds a critical threshold. This procedure is generally used to introduce different kinds of ions and molecules having biological or medical relevance into living cells. We refer to this biophysical event as electropermeabilization, even though most of this chapter is indeed devoted to the theory of electroporation, which explains the cell permeabilization in terms of opening of membrane pores. As a matter of fact, electroporation is the theory of electropermeabilization with the greatest scientific consensus, and also has the largest dedicated literature. The theoretical approaches analyzed rely on different types of mathematical models whose shared purpose is to assist researchers in this field in predicting, managing, optimizing, and interpreting the experimental results. In order to make this text more suitable for applications, several equations are accompanied by detailed qualitative descriptions of the experimental and/or clinical effects produced by the variables involved. Conversely, many biomedical results are discussed emphasizing their value for modelers. In the first section we briefly introduce the main models of electropermeabilization proposed. In the second and third sections we focus on the general and kinetic physical investigations concerning electroporation and on the electropore mathematical modeling. The fourth section is devoted to explain which role molecular simulations play in describing the electropermeabilization process and as a potential approach to study the core events of pore formation. In the fifth and last section, theoretical analyses, experimental studies and clinical research disseminated throughout a large number of publications are originally and systematically organized, in the attempt to look at this heterogeneous information in a comprehensive perspective, for the purposes of bioengineering and biomedical optimization. In particular, the final section discusses technical and instrumental issues, cell and tissue properties, electric field and heat generation, physiological mechanisms, molecular uptake, and clinical adverse events. © 2012 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.