Dynamics and Control of the Two-pulse Protocol in Electroporation: Numerical Exploration (2011)
BibTeX
@MISC{Jiang11dynamicsand,
author = {Wen Jiang and Xiaopeng Zhao},
title = {Dynamics and Control of the Two-pulse Protocol in Electroporation: Numerical Exploration},
year = {2011}
}
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Abstract
Externally applied voltages can create transient, nonselective pores in a cell’s membrane, a phenomenon known as electroporation. Electroporation has reduced toxicity, is easy to perform, and does not induce the immune system. Therefore, the technique has a wide range of biological and medical applications. Previous ex-periments show that a two-pulse protocol, which consists of a fast, large-magnitude pulse and a slow, small-magnitude pulse, can increase the efficiency of drug delivery such as gene electrotransfer. In this work, we investigate the dynamics and control of the two-pulse protocol using a macroscopic model of electroporation. Numerical simulations show that there exists a range of pore radii that cannot be sustained using the conventional, open-loop, two-pulse protocol. As a result, one may need to use pores that are significantly larger than the sizes of the targeted molecules. Moreover, it is not possible to know the rate of delivery a priori. To ensure accu-rate drug delivery and avoid potential damage to the cell’s membrane, we explore feedback mechanisms to eliminate the gap in sustainable pore radii and thus to precisely control the electroporation process. Numerical simulations show that a straightforward feedback algorithm can achieve robust control effects. Moreover, the control algorithm is effective without knowledge of the model and thus has the potential to be implemented in experiments. 1
Keyphrases
two-pulse protocol numerical exploration numerical simulation cell membrane straightforward feedback algorithm potential damage feedback mechanism accu-rate drug delivery macroscopic model electroporation process control algorithm drug delivery pore radius previous ex-periments sustainable pore radius nonselective pore medical application small-magnitude pulse wide range robust control effect immune system gene electrotransfer large-magnitude pulse targeted molecule
