In gene electrotransfer and cardiac ablation with irreversible electroporation, treated muscle cells are typically of elongated shape and their orientation may vary. Orientation of cells in electric field has been reported to affect electroporation, and hence electrodes placement and pulse parameters choice in treatments for achieving homogeneous effect in tissue is important. We investigated how cell orientation influences electroporation with respect to different pulse durations (ns to ms range), both experimentally and numerically. Experimentally detected electroporation (evaluated separately for cells parallel and perpendicular to electric field) via Ca²⁺ uptake in H9c2 and AC16 cardiomyocytes was numerically modeled using the asymptotic pore equation. Results showed that cell orientation affects electroporation extent: using short, nanosecond pulses, cells perpendicular to electric field are significantly more electroporated than parallel (up to 100-times more pores formed), and with long, millisecond pulses, cells parallel to electric field are more electroporated than perpendicular (up to 1000-times more pores formed). In the range of a few microseconds, cells of both orientations were electroporated to the same extent. Using pulses of a few microseconds lends itself as a new possible strategy in achieving homogeneous electroporation in tissue with elongated cells of different orientation (e.g. electroporation-based cardiac ablation).

在基因电转移和不可逆电穿孔的心脏消融中，处理过的肌肉细胞通常呈细长形，其方向可能会有所不同。据报道，细胞在电场中的取向会影响电穿孔，因此在治疗中电极的位置和脉冲参数的选择对于在组织中实现均质效果很重要。我们研究了在不同的脉冲持续时间（ns到ms范围）内，细胞取向如何影响电穿孔的作用，无论是在实验上还是在数值上。通过Ca ²⁺通过实验检测到的电穿孔（分别评估平行于和垂直于电场的细胞）使用渐近孔方程对H9c2和AC16心肌细胞的摄取进行数值模拟。结果表明，细胞方向会影响电穿孔的程度：使用短的纳秒脉冲，垂直于电场的细胞比平行的细胞电穿孔（形成的孔最多多100倍）的电穿孔明显，而长毫秒的脉冲，平行于电场的细胞比垂直电穿孔更多（最多形成1000倍的孔）。在几微秒的范围内，两个方向的细胞都被电穿孔到相同的程度。使用几微秒的脉冲使其成为一种新的可能策略，可在具有不同方向的细长细胞的组织中实现均匀的电穿孔（例如，基于电穿孔的心脏消融术）。