ABSTRACT
The simplest statement is that electroporation "creates new aqueous pathways" through lipid-based barriers. Almost all electroporation studies to date have focused on bilayer membranes, both artificial planar bilayer membranes and cell membranes. Greatly enhanced molecular and ionic transport is the basis of most all applications of electroporation. Membrane recovery after pulsing is fundamentally important to understanding whether an electroporation protocol is reversible at the membrane level and at the cellular level. Both reversible and irreversible electroporation lead rapidly to a high conductance state, which discharges the membrane after pulsing or provides a small membrane resistance that participates in a voltage divider effect to reduce the transmembrane voltage, even during the pulse. Tissue electroporation has also been identified as a side effect to defibrillation interventions. Describing the response of many closely spaced cells to an applied pulse is central to understanding electroporation of solid tissue.
