Interrelationship among breakdown voltage, latency time and membrane conductance during electroporation of artificial lipid membranes

Electroporation of artificial lipid membranes was studied by applying a 10 /spl mu/s, 300-600 mV rectangular voltage clamp pulse followed by a ramp of negative slope which decayed to zero in the subsequent 500 /spl mu/s. After the electroporating pulse the membrane conductance begins to increase after a variable time delay (latency time) and shows two distinct phases, a first phase in which conductance increases very rapidly followed by a second slow phase. The inter-relationships between breakdown voltage, latency time and the membrane conductance were investigated in 25 different bilayers.