In vivo non-thermal irreversible electroporation impact on rat liver galvanic apparent internal resistance

Non-thermal irreversible electroporation (NTIRE) is a biophysical phenomenon which involves application of electric field pulses to cells or tissues, causing certain rearrangements in the membrane structure leading to cell death. The treated tissue ac impedance changes induced by electroporation were shown to be the indicators for NTIRE efficiency. In a previous study we characterized in vitro tissue galvanic apparent internal resistance (GAIR) changes due to NTIRE. Here we describe an in vivo study in which we monitored the GAIR changes of a rat liver treated by NTIRE. Electrical pulses were delivered through the same Zn/Cu electrodes by which GAIR was measured. GAIR was measured before and for 3 h after the treatment at 15 min intervals. The results were compared to the established ac bioimpedance measurement method. A decrease of 33% was measured immediately after the NTIRE treatment and a 40% decrease was measured after 3 h in GAIR values; in the same time 40% and 47% decrease respectively were measured by ac bioimpedance analyses. The temperature increase due to the NTIRE was only 0.5 °C. The results open the way for an inexpensive, self-powered in vivo real-time NTIRE effectiveness measurement.