Electroporation of Ishikawa cells: analysis by flow cytometry

Electroporation facilitates loading of cells with molecules and substances that are normally membrane impermeable. Flow cytometry is used in this study to examine the effects of the application of electroporation-level monopolar electric field pulses of varying electrical field strength on Ishikawa endometrial adenocarcinoma cells. Analysis of the fluorescence versus forward scatter plots corroborates the well-recognised threshold and cell size dependence characteristics of electroporation, but also shows the progression of cell lysis and generation of particulate material. Two 500 µs monopolar rectangular pulses ranging from 1.0 × 10⁵ to 2.5 × 10⁵ V/m were used to electroporate the cells. Electroporation yields (fraction of viable cells exhibiting significant propidium iodide uptake) ranged from 0 to 97%, with viability ranging between 78 and 34% over the electric field strength range tested. The higher electric field strength pulses not only reduced cell viability, but also generated a substantial amount of sub-cellular sized particulate material indicating cells have been physically disrupted enough to create these particles.