In Vivo Electroporation of Skin and Biological Tissue: Theoretical model development and Numerical Investigation of Associated Thermo-Electrical and Structural Responses and Enhanced Mass Transport

Abstract

Electroporation is an approach used to enhance the transport of large molecules to the cell cytosol in which a targeted tissue region is exposed to a series of electric pulses. The cell membrane, which normally acts as a barrier to large molecule transport into the cell interior, is temporarily destabilized due to the development of pores in the cell membrane. Consequently agents that are ordinarily unable enter the cell are able to pass through the cell membrane. Similarly, electroporation of the skin enhances enhance transdermal transport by temporarily destabilizes the structure of the outer skin layer, the stratum corneum, by creating microscopic pores through which agents, which ordinarily are unable to pass into the skin, are able to pass through this outer barrier.

In this thesis, transient finite volume models of in vivo parallel plate electroporation of homogenous tissue and the composite layers of the skin are developed and used to further develop the understanding between the underlying relationships between the physical parameters involved with tissue electroporation and the thermal-electric response.

To study the localized effects of skin electroporation, a model of thermally induced electroporation pore development is developed in which stratum corneum lipid phase transitions are modeled as a series of melting processes. The results confirm that applied voltage to the skin results in high current densities within the less resistive regions of the stratum corneum.