Electroporation is a widely-used methodology for permeabilization of cells using pulsed electric field (PEF). In this paper, we compare the electroporation efficiency in terms of molecular transport and the generated reactive oxygen species (ROS) between low (1 Hz) and high (1 MHz) frequency nanosecond range PEF bursts. We used aluminum, copper and stainless-steel electrodes and evaluated the influence of electrode material on ROS generation and electroporation. Bursts of 25 or 50 pulses of 7–14 kV/cm amplitude and 200 ns duration were applied, and the results were compared to those obtained using electroporation with pulses of equivalent energy in conventional microsecond range. It was determined that electroporation efficiency scales with ROS generation and is highly affected by the material of electrodes and by the applied pulsing protocols. We present experimental evidence that metal ions, and not the pH fronts near the electrodes, play a major role in generation of ROS during electroporation.

电穿孔是使用脉冲电场（PEF）进行细胞通透性的一种广泛使用的方法。在本文中，我们比较了分子迁移和在低（1 Hz）和高（1 MHz）频率纳秒范围PEF脉冲之间产生的活性氧（ROS）的电穿孔效率。我们使用了铝，铜和不锈钢电极，并评估了电极材料对ROS生成和电穿孔的影响。施加25个或50个脉冲，振幅为7-14 kV / cm，持续时间为200 ns，并将其与使用常规微秒范围内的等效能量脉冲电穿孔获得的结果进行比较。可以确定，电穿孔效率随ROS的产生而变化，并受到电极材料和所施加脉冲协议的高度影响。