Electroporation Parameters for Human Cardiomyocyte Ablation In Vitro.

Area of Science:

• Cardiovascular Science
• Biophysics
• Cell Biology

Background:

• Irreversible electroporation (IRE) is emerging as a preferred method for atrial fibrillation treatment.
• IRE offers potential for reduced collateral damage and improved cell targeting compared to other energy sources.
• Optimized, cell-specific parameters for human tissues are needed for IRE ablation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine optimal irreversible electroporation (IRE) parameters for inducing human cardiomyocyte cell death.
• To establish the relationship between IRE parameters and lesion size in human cardiomyocytes.
• To investigate the impact of varying pulse durations and field strengths on cell death dynamics.

Main Methods:

• Human AC16 cardiomyocytes were cultured in a 2D monolayer system.
• Conventional biphasic pulses with varying field strengths and on-times were applied.
• Cell death dynamics and lesion dimensions were analyzed at different time points post-ablation.

Main Results:

• Human cardiomyocytes underwent significant cell death at 750 V/cm with 100 μs pulses.
• Increasing IRE on-time from 3 ms to 60 ms lowered the threshold to 250 V/cm.
• Shorter pulses (2-5 μs) required higher fields (>1000 V/cm) for cell death; longer on-times increased cell death and lesion size.

Conclusions:

• IRE parameters can be precisely tuned to control lesion size and human cardiomyocyte cell death.
• Delayed cell death (24h post-electroporation) in cardiomyocytes is a key consideration for clinical application of IRE.
• This research provides critical data for optimizing IRE protocols in cardiac ablation therapies.