Premium
Nanosecond pulsed electric fields perturb membrane phospholipids in T lymphoblasts
Author(s) -
Vernier P.Thomas,
Sun Yinghua,
Marcu Laura,
Craft Cheryl M.,
Gundersen Martin A.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/j.febslet.2004.07.021
Subject(s) - nanosecond , electric field , membrane , anode , lymphoblast , biophysics , membrane potential , phosphatidylserine , chemistry , pulse (music) , electrode , materials science , atomic physics , analytical chemistry (journal) , voltage , physics , optics , biology , laser , phospholipid , biochemistry , quantum mechanics , chromatography , genetics , cell culture
Nanosecond, megavolt‐per‐meter pulsed electric fields scramble the asymmetric arrangement of phospholipids in cell membranes without the permeabilization associated with longer, lower‐field pulses. A single 30 ns, 2.5 MV/m pulse produces perturbations consistent with phosphatidylserine (PS) externalization in Jurkat T lymphoblasts within milliseconds, polarized in the direction of the applied field, indicating an immediate interaction between membrane components and the electric field. This disturbance occurs only at the anode pole of the cell, supporting the hypothesis that the pulsed field drives the negatively charged PS head group toward the positive electrode, directly providing the energy for crossing the membrane dielectric barrier.