nsPEF-induced effects on cell membranes: use of electrophysical model to optimize experimental design

A numerical model, usually employed to analyze the electroporation phenomenon in eukaryotic cells exposed to high voltage electric pulses with duration in the ms to μs time scale, is extended to investigate the electroporation onset and dynamics induced by nanosecond pulsed electric fields (nsPEFs). The model allows to track the primary events and dynamics of the electroporation process on a time scale where available experimental methods do not provide reliable information. In particular the model, solved in the time domain, provides the spatial and temporal distribution of the transmembrane voltage and pore density of fixed radii around the plasma membrane. Moreover, it allows to optimize the experimental design of biological investigations in the framework of the mechanistic understanding of nsPEF. The obtained simulation results are correlated to biological observations of plasma membrane permeabilization in human lymphoblastoid Jurkat T-cells exposed to nsPEFs with variable pulse amplitude, as assessed by YO-PRO1 dye uptake.