Effect of the electroporation in the field calculation in biological tissues

This article presents results from the field calculation in a model of biological tissue taking into account the electroporation process. The electroporation model used in this study was proposed and experimentally verified by Glaser et al. for planar membranes. The numerical method for field calculation is based on a two-step process: (1) a cell-scale analysis, used for obtaining the field and current in a small volume containing only one cell and its nearest neighbors; and (2) a tissue-scale analysis, based on averaged values of conductivity and permittivity (obtained from the cell-scale analysis) and used for field calculation in a large volume of the tissue. The results for a high voltage applied between two electrodes in a two-dimensional analysis show that the electric field in the porated tissue extends beyond the limits obtained when the electroporation process is not taken into account. Furthermore, due to the electroporation, the tissue conductivity increases in the space between the electrodes. These results show that the electroporation process cannot be ignored in the field calculation in biological tissues when high strength electric fields are present.