Hycheed system for maintaining stable temperature control during preclinical irreversible electroporation experiments at clinically relevant temperature and pulse settings

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Electric permeabilization of cell membranes is the main mechanism of irreversible electroporation (IRE), an ablation technique for treatment of unresectable cancers, but the pulses also induce a significant temperature increase in the treated volume. To investigate the therapeutically thermal contribution, a preclinical setup is required to apply IRE at desired temperatures while maintaining stable temperatures. This study’s aim was to develop and test an electroporation device capable of maintaining a pre-specified stable and spatially homogeneous temperatures and electric field in a tumor cell suspension for several clinical-IRE-settings. A hydraulically controllable heat exchange electroporation device (HyCHEED) was developed and validated at 37◦ C and 46◦ C. Through plate electrodes, HyCHEED achieved both a homogeneous electric field and homogenous-stable temperatures; IRE heat was removed through hydraulic cooling. IRE was applied to 300 µL of pancreatic carcinoma cell suspension (Mia PaCa-2), after which cell viability and specific conductivity were determined. HyCHEED maintained stable temperatures within ±1.5◦ C with respect to the target temperature for multiple IRE-settings at the selected temperature levels. An increase of cell death and specific conductivity, including post-treatment, was found to depend on electric-field strength and temperature. HyCHEED is capable of maintaining stable temperatures during IRE-experiments. This provides an excellent basis to assess the contribution of thermal effects to IRE and other bio-electromagnetic techniques.
Original languageEnglish
Article number6227
Pages (from-to)1-24
Number of pages24
JournalSensors (Basel, Switzerland)
Volume20
Issue number21
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Sept 2020

Keywords

  • Cooling-system
  • Electromagnetics
  • Electroporation
  • Heating-system
  • Hydraulic-control-system
  • Hyperthermia

Cite this