Publications by authors named "Gediminas Staigvila"
Electroporation is an effective physical method for irreversible or reversible permeabilization of plasma membranes of biological cells and is typically used for tissue ablation or targeted drug/DNA delivery into living cells. In the context of cancer treatment, full recovery from an electroporation-based procedure is frequently dependent on the spatial distribution/homogeneity of the electric field in the tissue; therefore, the structure of electrodes/applicators plays an important role. This review focuses on the analysis of electrodes and models used for electroporation in cancer treatment and gene therapy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn the present study, we report the effects of extracellular medium conductivity on cell response in the context of sub-microsecond range (100 ns-900 ns) electroporation, calcium electroporation and cell size. The effects of 25 ns and microsecond range (100 μs) pulses were also covered. As a model, three different cancer cell lines of various size (C32, MCF-7/DX and MC38/0) were used and the results indicated different size-dependent susceptibility patterns to the treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMeasurement of cell transmembrane potential (TMP) is a complex methodology involving patch-clamp methods or fluorescence-based potentiometric markers, which have limited to no applicability during ultrafast charging and relaxation phenomena. In such a case, analytical methods are applied for evaluation of the voltage potential changes in biological cells. In this work, the TMP-based electrotransfer mechanism during ultra-high frequency (≥1 MHz) electric fields is studied and the phenomenon of rapid membrane charge accumulation, which is non-occurrent during conventional low-frequency electroporation is simulated using finite element method (FEM).
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- Antifungal treatments for candidiasis have side effects and can lead to drug resistance in Candida yeasts, highlighting the need for alternative therapies.
- Pulsed electric field (PEF) treatment shows promise, particularly when combined with formic acid, enhancing its effectiveness in inducing cell death in yeast, including drug-resistant strains.
- The study indicates that specific PEF protocols can effectively cause apoptosis in yeast cells, paving the way for safer and more effective antifungal strategies.
Article Synopsis
- Skin infections caused by drug-resistant bacteria are a serious health issue, prompting this study to explore how low concentrations of acetic and formic acids can enhance the efficacy of pulsed electric fields (PEF) against these pathogens.
- The research demonstrated that using PEF in combination with weak organic acids significantly improved the ability to kill bacteria like Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa while requiring lower concentrations and less energy.
- The findings suggest that using these acids with PEF offers a promising alternative to antibiotics, particularly for severe wound infections, as they help avoid the development of drug resistance and can effectively target resilient biofilms.
Recently, a novel contactless treatment method based on high-power pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMF) was proposed, which results in cell membrane permeabilization effects similar to electroporation. In this work, a new PEMF generator based on multi-stage Marx circuit topology, which is capable of delivering 3.3 T, 0.
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