Electroporation-based techniques, i.e. techniques based on the perturbation of the cell membrane through the application of electric pulses, are widely used at present in medicine and biotechnology. However, the electric pulse - cell membrane interaction is not yet completely understood neither explicitly formalized. Here we introduce a Multiphysics (MP) model describing electric pulse - cell membrane interaction consisting on the Poisson equation for the electric field, the Nernst-Planck equations for ion transport (protons, hydroxides, sodium or calcium, and chloride), the Maxwell tensor and mechanical equilibrium equation for membrane deformations (with an explicit discretization of the cell membrane), and the Smoluchowski equation for membrane permeabilization. The MP model predicts that during the application of an electric pulse to a spherical cell an elastic deformation of its membrane takes place affecting the induced transmembrane potential, the pore creation dynamics and the ionic transport. Moreover, the coincidence among maximum membrane deformation, maximum pore aperture, and maximum ion uptake is predicted. Such behavior has been corroborated experimentally by previously published results in red blood and CHO cells as well as in supramolecular lipid vesicles.

基于电穿孔的技术，即基于通过施加电脉冲对细胞膜的扰动的技术，目前在医学和生物技术中被广泛使用。然而，电脉冲-细胞膜的相互作用还没有被完全理解，也没有明确地形式化。在这里，我们介绍一个描述电脉冲-细胞膜相互作用的多物理场（MP）模型，该模型由电场的泊松方程，离子传输的Nernst-Planck方程（质子，氢氧化物，钠或钙和氯离子），麦克斯韦张量组成膜变形的机械平衡方程式（具有明显的细胞膜离散），以及膜通透性的Smoluchowski方程式。MP模型预测，在向球形细胞施加电脉冲的过程中，其膜的弹性变形会影响感应的跨膜电势，孔的形成动力学和离子迁移。而且，可以预测最大的膜变形，最大的孔孔径和最大的离子吸收量之间的一致性。先前发表的结果在红血和CHO细胞以及超分子脂质囊泡中已通过实验证实了这种行为。