Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 20, 2026

Porous Substrate-Based Electroporation with Transepithelial Electrical Impedance Monitoring
Published on: September 27, 2024
Regulation of Pore Evolution via Progressive Electroporation Enhanced Intracellular Molecule Transport
Xiao-Nan Tao1, Xiao-Wei Xiang2, Hao-Tian Liu2
1School of Information Science and Technology, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
None:
Nonviral intracellular delivery based on pulsed-electric-field-induced electroporation is one of the most effective and widely used platforms in basic biological and biomedical research. However, the conventional bulk electroporation technique has exhibited limited performance in improving delivery efficiency with a single type of pulse, especially for in vivo small interfering RNA (siRNA) delivery. Pulse modulation has been confirmed effective in facilitating intracellular delivery. Nonetheless, pore evolution and regulation during and after electric exposure plays an essential role in the effective intracellular delivery of molecules with variable sizes. Here, we propose a progressive electroporation (PEP) strategy on the basis of multiple-pulse combination, which decouples the perforation process and delivery process compared to conventional bulk electroporation, efficiently improving delivery efficiency with regulation of the perforated pores. We demonstrated an important correlation between delivery efficiency enhancement and delayed pore resealing by quantitative investigations. The performance of this disruption-and-field-enhancement method also showed delivery advantages over conventional chemical systems. Moreover, we validated the improvement for siRNA knockdown efficacy in vivo. Overall, PEP helps provide a unique insight into improving intracellular delivery, by regulating pore dynamics rather than just inducing perforation. This strategic advancement of PEP may pave the way for the development of advanced wearable delivery systems with reduced energy consumption.
Related Concept Videos
Pore Transport and Ion-Pair Transport
Pore transport, also known as convective transport, is a process where small molecules like urea, water, and sugars rapidly cross cell membranes as though there were channels or pores in the membrane. Although direct microscopic evidence is limited but the concept of pores or channels is widely accepted based on physiological evidence. Despite the lack of direct microscopic...
Carrier-Mediated Transport
Active transport involves two types of membrane-spanning transporters: uptake and efflux. Uptake transporters are expressed in the small...
Facilitated Diffusion
In this process, substrates such as organic compounds and ions interact with a transporter on one side, triggering conformational changes in proteins that enable...
Mechanisms of Drug Absorption: Paracellular, Transcellular, and Vesicular Transport
However, most drugs use the transcellular route, traversing directly through the cell membranes via two mechanisms: passive and active transport. Passive...
Cellular Membranes and Drug Transport
Phospholipids arrange themselves into a bilayer, with hydrophilic heads oriented outward and hydrophobic tails facing inward.
Membrane Asymmetry Regulating Transporters
Flippase
Eukaryotic flippases are type-IV P-type ATPases or P4-ATPases belonging to P-type ATPase family proteins that are membrane-bound pumps involved in the ATP-mediated transport of ions and molecules across the membrane. Flippases flip specific phospholipids from the outer to the inner leaflet of a membrane. All P4-ATPases have one...

