Pulsed electric fields have been applied to living systems in vitro for a host of delivery applications since the early 1980s. It has been established that the primary effect that electrical treatment has on cells is an induced increase in the permeability of membranes to exogenous molecules. This state of increased permeability was noted to be temporary and could be induced with little or no effect on cell viability. This physical phenomenon was termed electroporation. Numerous published studies have shown that electroporation can be applied to any cell type. These studies also exploited the phenomenon to deliver drugs, DNA, antibodies, proteins, and fluorescent molecules. The use of electricity to mediate delivery of these molecule types in vitro has proven to be an invaluable research tool for biological and biomedical scientists. Many of the in vitro applications for electrically mediated delivery have tremendous potential for the treatment of human disease. For example, the ef- cient delivery of drugs and plasmid DNA has strong implications for improving standard therapies, as well as gene therapies. This potential was realized about 12 years ago when electric pulses were used to deliver drugs to tumor cells in vivo. Since then, the utility of in vivo electroporation for the delivery of m- ecules has been demonstrated through new applications that have been developed with increasing frequency each year. Electrochemotherapy, Electrogenetherapy, and Transdermal Drug Delivery: Electrically Mediated Delivery of Molecules to Cells provides review and protocol chapters that completely cover this relatively new scientific discipline.

Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Zusammenfassung
Electrochemotherapy, Electrogenetherapy, and Transdermal Drug Delivery: Electrically Mediated Delivery of Molecules to Cells provides review and protocol chapters that completely cover this relatively new scientific discipline.

Inhalt
Reviews.- Principles of Membrane Electroporation and Transport of Macromolecules.- Instrumentation and Electrodes for In Vivo Electroporation.- Numerical Modeling for In Vivo Electroporation.- In Vitro Delivery of Drugs and Other Molecules to Cells.- The Basis of Electrochemotherapy.- Electrochemotherapy.- Clinical Trials for Solid Tumors Using Electrochemotherapy.- In Vitro and Ex Vivo Gene Delivery to Cells by Electroporation.- Delivery of Genes In Vivo Using Pulsed Electric Fields.- Mechanism of Transdermal Drug Delivery by Electroporation.- Mechanistic Studies of Skin Electroporation Using Biophysical Methods.- Electrochemotherapy Protocols.- Treatment of Murine Transplanted Subcutaneous Tumors Using Systemic Drug Administration.- Electrochemotherapy of Murine Melanoma Using Intratumor Drug Administration.- Treatment of a Tumor Model with ECT Using 4+4 Electrode Configuration.- Treatment of Multiple Spontaneous Breast Tumors in Mice Using Electrochemotherapy.- Electroporation of Muscle Tissue In Vivo.- Treatment of Human Pancreatic Tumors Xenografted in Nude Mice by Chemotherapy Combined with Pulsed Electric Fields.- Distribution of Bleomycin in a Rat Model.- Treatment of Rat Bladder Cancer With Electrochemotherapy In Vivo.- Electrochemotherapy for the Treatment of Soft Tissue Sarcoma in a Rat Model.- Treatment of Spontaneous Soft Tissue Sarcomas in Cat.- Treatment of Rat Glioma With Electrochemotherapy.- Treatment of Liver Malignancies with Electrochemotherapy in a Rat Model.- Treatment of Liver Tumors in Rabbit.- Electrogenetherapy Protocols.- Electrically Mediated Reporter Gene Transfer into Normal Rat Liver Tissue.- Reporter/Functional Gene Transfer in Rat Brain.- In Vivo Gene Electroporation in the Mouse Testis.- Ex Vivo Stromal Cell Electroporation of Factor IX cDNA for Treatment of Hemophilia B.- In Ovo Gene Electroporation into Early Chicken Embryos.- Transdermal Delivery Protocols.- Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy for Rapid and Noninvasive Analysis of Skin Electroporation.- An In Vitro System for Measuring the Transdermal Voltage and Molecular Flux Across the Skin in Real Time.- Using Surface Electrodes to Monitor the Electric-Pulse-Induced Permeabilization of Porcine Skin.- Transdermal Delivery Using Surface Electrodes in Porcine Skin.- Transdermal Drug Delivery by Skin Electroporation in the Rat.- In Vivo Skin-Targeted Gene Delivery by Pulsed Electric Fields.