Cell electroporation model using voronoi networks

Abstract

A simulation study to probe cell membrane electroporation in clusters by a highintensity, nanosecond voltage pulse is presented. The focus is on assessing effects associated with the variability in shape and randomness of the cells within clusters, the effects on heterogeneous tissues, and the electric strength versus pulse duration behavior. A two-dimensional Voronoi network approach is used to obtain quantitative, time-dependent results for the cluster collection. The method takes account of the random structure in terms of cell shape and heterogeneous tissue placement. Results demonstrate that in an inhomogeneous system containing a connected mass of tumor cells, electroporation is likely to start at the periphery of the unhealthy cells within the tissue. This arises from the difference in electrical properties between normal/healthy and tumor cells. Simulations also show that the time for poration is the largest for the configurations having the lowest disorder.