Nanosecond pulsed electric fields perturb membrane phospholipids in T lymphoblasts

Vernier, P.Thomas; Sun, Yinghua; Marcu, Laura; Craft, Cheryl M.; Gundersen, Martin A.

doi:10.1016/j.febslet.2004.07.021

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Volume 572, Issue 1 , Pages 103-108, 13 August 2004

Nanosecond pulsed electric fields perturb membrane phospholipids in T lymphoblasts☆

Edited by Gerrit van Meer

P.Thomas Vernier
- Department of Electrical Engineering-Electrophysics, School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0271, USA
- MOSIS, Information Sciences Institute, School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90292-6695, USA
- Corresponding author. Fax: +1-310-823-5624
Yinghua Sun
- Department of Materials Science, School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0271, USA
Laura Marcu
- Department of Electrical Engineering-Electrophysics, School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0271, USA
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0271, USA
- Biophotonics Research and Technology Development Laboratory, Department of Surgery, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90048, USA
Cheryl M. Craft
- Mary D. Allen Laboratory for Vision Research, Doheny Eye Institute, and Department of Cell and Neurobiology, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-9112, USA
Martin A. Gundersen
- Department of Electrical Engineering-Electrophysics, School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0271, USA

Received 9 April 2004; received in revised form 2 July 2004; accepted 3 July 2004.

Abstract

Nanosecond, megavolt-per-meter pulsed electric fields scramble the asymmetric arrangement of phospholipids in cell membranes without the permeabilization associated with longer, lower-field pulses. A single 30 ns, 2.5 MV/m pulse produces perturbations consistent with phosphatidylserine (PS) externalization in Jurkat T lymphoblasts within milliseconds, polarized in the direction of the applied field, indicating an immediate interaction between membrane components and the electric field. This disturbance occurs only at the anode pole of the cell, supporting the hypothesis that the pulsed field drives the negatively charged PS head group toward the positive electrode, directly providing the energy for crossing the membrane dielectric barrier.

Keywords: Nanosecond pulsed electric field, Phosphatidylserine externalization, Phospholipid translocation, Real-time fluorescence microscopy

Abbreviations: BAPTA, 1,2-bis(o-aminophenoxy)ethane-N,N,N′,N′-tetraacetic acid, FM1-43, N-(3-triethylammoniumpropyl)-4-(4-(dibutylamino)styryl)pyridinium dibromide, PS, phosphatidylserine