The Spatially Distributed Dynamic Transmembrane Voltage of Cells and Organelles due to 10 ns Pulses: Meshed Transport Networks

The authors describe two versions of a two-dimensional (2-D) cell model that contains three circular membranes representing the plasma membrane (PM) and single bilayer approximations to both the nuclear envelope and the mitochondrial membrane. The first version uses a Cartesian transport network, which respects topology but approximates geometry. The second version uses a meshed transport network, which respects both. The asymptotic electroporation model is assigned to all local membrane sites in order to assess the electrical response of the membranes. The predictions of these two models are presented for 10-ns trapezoidal pulses with 1.5 ns rise and fall times. The applied field magnitudes range from 1 to 100 kV/cm, corresponding to recent experiments. The spatially distributed electroporation models exhibit a supraelectroporation for the larger pulses with a maximum transmembrane voltage of U_m~1.5 V for both the PM and organelle membranes. For the larger fields, the PM and organelle membranes electroporate essentially simultaneously. The meshed version of the transport network eliminates numerical artifacts and is more computationally efficient