Cyclin B1 knockdown mediated by clinically approved pulsed electric fields siRNA delivery induces tumor regression in murine melanoma.

RNA interference (RNAi) represents a promising therapy for the specific inhibition of gene expression in targeted tissues including tumors. To realize the therapeutic potential of RNAi drugs, non-immunogenic, efficient, and tissue-specific delivery technologies must be developed. We have previously shown that pulsed electric field (PEF) can deliver siRNAs into tumor cells thanks to long electrophoretic drift occurring during the use of millisecond duration pulses.

Electrotransformation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Intact yeast cell transformation is easily achieved by gene electrotransfer (GET). The procedure is fast and efficient in terms of transformants/μg DNA. Yeast cells in exponential growth phase are washed, treated for a short period with dithiothreitol (DTT) and then mixed with the plasmid DNA in a buffer with a low conductivity.

Electrotransfer of CpG free plasmids enhances gene expression in skin.

Skin is a very suitable target for gene therapy and DNA vaccination due to its accessibility, its surface and its ability to produce transgenes. Gene electrotransfer (GET) to the skin is under development for clinical applications for DNA vaccine or local treatment such as wound healing. Local treatments are effective if the expression of the plasmid affects only the local environment (skin) by inducing an efficient concentration over a prolonged period.

Calcium electroporation: The bioelectrochemical treatment of spontaneous equine skin tumors results in a local necrosis.

Electrochemotherapy (ECT) is an anticancer bioelectrochemical therapy where electrical field pulses (electropermeabilization) increase intracellular concentration of antitumor drugs. The procedure is very effective against skin tumors. The restrictive regulations concerning anticancer drugs in veterinary medicine limit use of ECT.

A protein nanocontainer targeting epithelial cancers: rational engineering, biochemical characterization, drug loading and cell delivery.

The development of drug delivery and imaging tools is a major challenge in human health, in particular in cancer pathologies. This work describes the optimization of a protein nanocontainer, belonging to the lectin protein family, for its use in epithelial cancer diagnosis and treatment. Indeed, it specifically targets a glycosidic marker, the T antigen, which is known to be characteristic of epithelial cancers.

Noninvasive Gene Electrotransfer in Skin.

The skin is considered as well suited for gene therapy and vaccination. DNA vaccines elicit both broad humoral and cellular immune responses when injected in the skin. Physical and chemical methods are needed to boost the expression.

Safe and efficient novel approach for non-invasive gene electrotransfer to skin.

Gene transfer into cells or tissue by application of electric pulses (i.e. gene electrotransfer (GET)) is a non-viral gene delivery method that is becoming increasingly attractive for clinical applications.

In Vivo Evaluation of a New Recombinant Hyaluronidase to Improve Gene Electro-Transfer Protocols for DNA-Based Drug Delivery against Cancer.

Cancer vaccines based on plasmid DNA represent a good therapeutic perspective, despite their low potency. Animal-derived hyaluronidases (Hyals) are employed in oncological clinical practice. Hyal has been also demonstrated to be a good enhancer of intramuscular Gene Electro-Transfer (GET) efficiency in anti-cancer preclinical protocols, with increased transfected cells and higher expression of the encoded genes.

Spatio-temporal dynamics of calcium electrotransfer during cell membrane permeabilization.

Pulsed electric fields (PEFs) are applied as physical stimuli for DNA/drug delivery, cancer therapy, gene transformation, and microorganism eradication. Meanwhile, calcium electrotransfer offers an interesting approach to treat cancer, as it induces cell death easier in malignant cells than in normal cells. Here, we study the spatial and temporal cellular responses to 10 μs duration PEFs; by observing real-time, the uptake of extracellular calcium through the cell membrane.

Recommendations and requirements for reporting on applications of electric pulse delivery for electroporation of biological samples.

Electric field-induced membrane changes are an important approach in the life sciences. However, the developments in knowledge and translational applications face problems of reproducibility. Indeed, a quick survey of the literature reveals a lack of transparent and comprehensive reporting of essential technical information in many papers.

Increased permeability of blood vessels after reversible electroporation is facilitated by alterations in endothelial cell-to-cell junctions.

Delivery of electric field pulses, i.e. electroporation (EP), to tissues has been shown to have a blood flow modifying effect.

Permeabilizing Phospholipid Bilayers with Non-normal Electric Fields.

Since 2003, molecular dynamics simulations of lipid bilayers have provided valuable insights into the mechanisms underlying electropermeabilization (electroporation)-an electric field-induced increase in the permeability of biological membranes. The convention in these studies has been to apply the electric field normal to the plane of the membrane. In a typical electroporation application, however, where the electric field is reasonably uniform and unidirectional, the field is perpendicular to the membrane only at a few locations-for spherical cells only at the poles of the cells along the axis defined by the direction of the electric field.

Control by Low Levels of Calcium of Mammalian Cell Membrane Electropermeabilization.

Electric pulses, when applied to a cell suspension, induce a reversible permeabilization of the plasma membrane. This permeabilized state is a long-lived process (minutes). The biophysical molecular mechanisms supporting the membrane reorganization associated to its permeabilization remain poorly understood.

A new mechanism for efficient hydrocarbon electro-extraction from .

Background: Recent understanding that specific algae have high hydrocarbon production potential has attracted considerable attention. is a microalga with an extracellular hydrocarbon matrix, which makes it an appropriate green energy source.

Results: This study focuses on extracting oil from the microalgae matrix rather than the cells, eliminating the need for an excessive electric field to create electro-permeabilization.

Operating Procedures of the Electrochemotherapy for Treatment of Tumor in Dogs and Cats.

Electrochemotherapy (ECT) is a local approach which is used for treating solid tumors of different histologies. Its mechanism is based on cell membrane permeabilization by means of "electroporation". To achieve the "electroporation" of the cells, electric pulses are generated by a generator and delivered to the target tissue by the use of electrodes.

Post-pulse addition of trans-cyclohexane-1,2-diol improves electrotransfer mediated gene expression in mammalian cells.

Electric field mediated gene transfer is facing a problem in expression yield due to the poor transfer across the nuclear envelope. Trans-cyclohexane-1,2-diol (TCHD) was shown to significantly increase chemically mediated transfection by collapsing the permeability barrier of the nuclear pore complex. We indeed observed a significant increase in expression by electrotransfer when cells are treated post pulse by a low non toxic concentration of TCHD.

Electrochemotherapy guided by intraoperative fluorescence imaging for the treatment of inoperable peritoneal micro-metastases.

Surgery is often the first therapeutic indication in cancer. Patient survival essentially depends on the completeness of tumor resection. This is a major challenge, particularly in patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC), where tumors are widely disseminated in the large peritoneal cavity.

Energy-efficient biomass processing with pulsed electric fields for bioeconomy and sustainable development.

Fossil resources-free sustainable development can be achieved through a transition to bioeconomy, an economy based on sustainable biomass-derived food, feed, chemicals, materials, and fuels. However, the transition to bioeconomy requires development of new energy-efficient technologies and processes to manipulate biomass feed stocks and their conversion into useful products, a collective term for which is biorefinery. One of the technological platforms that will enable various pathways of biomass conversion is based on pulsed electric fields applications (PEF).

Imaging of Electrotransferred siRNA.

SiRNA delivery to the cytoplasm can be obtained through the application of calibrated electric field pulses to a mixture of cells and oligonucleotides. To investigate the uptake pathway, time lapse confocal fluorescence microscopy provides a direct visualization of the transfer. SiRNA is electrophoretically drifted directly to the cytoplasm during the pulse.

Electric Destabilization of Supramolecular Lipid Vesicles Subjected to Fast Electric Pulses.

Biological membranes are weakly permeable to hydrophilic molecules and ions and electric pulses can induce their transient permeabilization, but this process is not well characterized. We directly assay the electropermeabilization process, on the minimum model of lipid vesicles, by using a highly sensitive fluorescence method based on manganese ion transport. The approach gives access, at the single-lipid self-assembly level, to the transmembrane potential needed to detect divalent ion permeabilization on supramolecular giant unilamellar lipid vesicles.

Electrochemotherapy of tumors as in situ vaccination boosted by immunogene electrotransfer.

Electroporation is a platform technology for drug and gene delivery. When applied to cell in vitro or tissues in vivo, it leads to an increase in membrane permeability for molecules which otherwise cannot enter the cell (e.g.

A Comparative Study on the Effects of Millisecond- and Microsecond-Pulsed Electric Field Treatments on the Permeabilization and Extraction of Pigments from Chlorella vulgaris.

The interdependencies of the two main processing parameters affecting "electroporation" (electric field strength and pulse duration) while using pulse duration in the range of milliseconds and microseconds on the permeabilization, inactivation, and extraction of pigments from Chlorella vulgaris was compared. While irreversible "electroporation" was observed above 4 kV/cm in the millisecond range, electric field strengths of ≥10 kV/cm were required in the microseconds range. However, to cause the electroporation of most of the 90 % of the population of C.