ABSTRACT
The theoretical understanding of the phenomenon of electroporation is crucial for planning and optimization of protocols for drug and/or gene delivery. In the last four decades, a number of tentative theoretical descriptions of this phenomenon have been proposed, assuming either deformation of membrane lipids,1-3 their phase transition,4 breakdown of interfaces between the lipid domains,5 or denaturation of membrane proteins.6 However, each of these former descriptions has serious aws,7 and today, there is broad consensus that electroporation is best described as the formation of aqueous pores in the lipid bilayer.8-11 This also claries the prevalent choice of the term electroporation, as opposed to the broader term of electropermeabilization, which is also applicable to all the alternative explanations of the phenomenon.
