Carbon nanotube enhanced pulsed electric field electroporation for biomedical applications

Pulsed electric fields (PEF) are commonly used in microbial electroporation applications. Emerging lab-on-a-chip technologies use PEF to control membrane permeability to access internal cellular contents including nucleic acids and proteins. If micropores in the membrane (created by E field) are significant in terms of size, persistence time and number, in comparison to the overall membrane area, the conditions for mechanical destruction of the cell membrane are favoured. Membrane breakdown is associated with cell death and dispersal of cell contents including nucleic acids and protein. This paper serves as an initial investigation into the use of carbon nanotubes (CNT) to reduce the voltage requirements for irreversible electroporation for portable lab-on-a-chip devices with strict power limitations.