Feasibility study for focusing electric fields to mediate in vitro drug and gene delivery.

Electric field mediated drug and gene delivery is a novel method that uses pulsed electric fields to improve permeability of cell membranes and therefore desired agent uptake by tissues. In this paper, we describe the modeling and experimental proof of concept of a method to direct electric fields to subsequently focus drug or gene uptake at a desired site. The in vitro experimental results presented are consistent with simulation models and could be scaled into different in vivo applications that can concentrate the effects of electroporation and overcome several problems related to localized effects near the electrodes.