DocumentCode :
1325839
Title :
The effect of pulsed electric fields on biological cells: experiments and applications
Author :
Schoenbach, Karl H. ; Peterkin, Frank E. ; Alden, Raymond W., III ; Beebe, Stephen J.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Old Dominion Univ., Norfolk, VA, USA
Volume :
25
Issue :
2
fYear :
1997
fDate :
4/1/1997 12:00:00 AM
Firstpage :
284
Lastpage :
292
Abstract :
The effect of pulsed electric fields with amplitudes in the range of 100 V/cm-100 kV/cm on bacteria and aquatic nuisance species has been explored. The pulse duration was so short that heating of the biological matter could be neglected. The electrical energy required for lysing of bacteria, or stunning of aquatic species, decreases when the pulse duration is reduced. For lysing of Eschericia coli, this tendency has been proven to hold for pulsewidths as short as 60 ns. For macroorganisms, however, it was found that for pulsewidths of less than 5 μs, the tendency is reversed: the energy required to affect the macroorganisms increases again. This minimum in energy, or maximum in efficiency, respectively, can be understood by taking the time required for electrical charging of the cell membrane into account. Applications of the pulsed electric field technique (PEFT) are in biofouling prevention, debacterialization of liquids, and in the field of medicine. A series of field tests on biofouling prevention in a cooling system with untreated water as coolant has demonstrated the economic feasibility of the electro-technology
Keywords :
bioelectric phenomena; biological effects of fields; cellular biophysics; Eschericia coli; applications; aquatic nuisance species; bacteria; biofouling prevention; biological cells; cell membrane; cooling system; electro-technology; experiments; field tests; heating; liquid debacterialization; lysing; macroorganisms; medicine; pulse duration; pulsed electric fields; untreated water coolant; Biological cells; Biomembranes; Cells (biology); Coolants; Cooling; Heating; Liquids; Microorganisms; Power generation economics; System testing;
fLanguage :
English
Journal_Title :
Plasma Science, IEEE Transactions on
Publisher :
ieee
ISSN :
0093-3813
Type :
jour
DOI :
10.1109/27.602501
Filename :
602501
Link To Document :
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