Application of strong electric field pulses to cells and tissue is known to cause some type of structural rearrangement of the cell membrane.
Significant progress has been made by adopting the hypothesis that
some of these rearrangements consist of temporary aqueous pathways
("pores"), with the electric field playing the dual role of causing pore
formation and providing a local driving force for ionic and molecular
transport through the pores. Introduction of DNA into cells in vitro is
now the most common application. With imagination, however, many
other uses seem likely. For example, in vitro electroporation has been
used to introduce into cells enzymes, antibodies, and other biochemical
reagents for intracellular assays; to load larger cells preferentially with
molecules in the presence of many smaller cells; to introduce particles
into cells, including viruses; to kill cells purposefully under otherwise mild
conditions; and to insert membrane macromolecules into the cell membrane
itself. Only recently has the exploration of in vivo electroporation for use
with intact tissue begun. Several possible applications have been identi-
fied, viz. combined electroporation and anticancer drugs for improved
solid tumor chemotherapy, localized gene therapy, transdermal drug
delivery, and noninvasive extraction of analytes for biochemical assays.