Morphological and electrophysiological changes produced by electrical stimulation in cultured neuroblastoma cells

Electric fields, which were equivalent to those generated by medical devices, were applied to cultured neuroblastoma cells (mouse and human) to test for morphological damage and to establish damage thresholds. Each of two methods of applying fields permitted flow of electrical current and minimized exposure of cells to electrode-breakdown products. One method consisted of a pair of parallel wires in a Petri dish by which current was delivered within a fixed volume of flowing tissue-culture media. With the other method, the cells were held in a confined geometrical chamber and current was applied via agar bridges. Under a given set of stimulation parameters, damage was found to be variable from cell to cell. By changing the strength of the electric field (frequency and duration of stimulation held constant), thresholds of several V/cm were found above which cell damage could be reliably produced. Depending on the intensity of the field, damage took the form of cell lysis or damage to neurites. Intracellular recordings from the mouse neuroblastoma cells revealed a correlation between a decline in resting transmembrane potential and stimulus intensity. Human neuroblastoma cells were less susceptible to damage than were the mouse neuroblastoma cells, given the same strength of applied electric fields.