The role of pH fronts in tissue electroporation based treatments

• Autores: Maglietti, Felipe Horacio; Michinski, Sebastián Diego; Olaiz, Nahuel Manuel; Castro, Marcelo Adrian; Suárez, Cecilia Ana; Marshall, Guillermo Ricardo
• Año de publicación: 2013
• Idioma: inglés
• Tipo de recurso: artículo
• Materia: electrochemotherapy; ph; electroporation; buffer
• Institución: Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas

Treatments based on electroporation (EP) induce the formation of pores in cell membranes due to the application of pulsed electric fields. We present experimental evidence of the existence of pH fronts emerging from both electrodes during treatments based on tissue EP, for conditions found in many studies, and that these fronts are immediate and substantial. pH fronts are indirectly measured through the evanescence time (ET), defined as the time required for the tissue buffer to neutralize them. The ET was measured through a pH indicator imaged at a series of time intervals using a four-cluster hard fuzzy-c-means algorithm to segment pixels corresponding to the pH indicator at every frame. The ET was calculated as the time during which the number of pixels was 10% of those in the initial frame. While in EP-based treatments such as reversible (ECT) and irreversible electroporation (IRE) the ET is very short (though enough to cause minor injuries) due to electric pulse characteristics and biological buffers present in the tissue, in gene electrotransfer (GET), ET is much longer, enough to denaturate plasmids and produce cell damage. When any of the electric pulse parameters is doubled or tripled the ET grows and, remarkably, when any of the pulse parameters in GET is halved, the ET drops significantly. Reducing pH fronts has relevant implications for GET treatment efficiency, due to a substantial reduction of plasmid damage and cell loss.
Fil: Maglietti, Felipe Horacio. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ingenieria. Departamento de Computacion. Laboratorio de Sistemas Complejos; Argentina;
Fil: Michinski, Sebastián Diego. Consejo Nacional de Invest.cientif.y Tecnicas. Oficina de Coordinacion Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Fisica del Plasma; Argentina; Instituto Tecnologico de Buenos Aires. Departamento de Bioingenieria; Argentina;
Fil: Olaiz, Nahuel Manuel. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ingenieria. Departamento de Computacion. Laboratorio de Sistemas Complejos; Argentina;
Fil: Castro, Marcelo Adrian. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina; Universidad Tecnologica Nacional; Argentina;
Fil: Suárez, Cecilia Ana. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ingenieria. Departamento de Computacion. Laboratorio de Sistemas Complejos; Argentina;
Fil: Marshall, Guillermo Ricardo. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ingenieria. Departamento de Computacion. Laboratorio de Sistemas Complejos; Argentina;