BIOMEDICAL APPLICATIONS OF ELECTRIC PULSES WITH SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON ANTITUMOR ELECTROCHEMOTHERAPY

Short and intense electric pulses (EP) are regularly used in almost al l molecular and cellular biology laboratories to introduce foreign DNA , as well as other exogeneous molecules, into living cells. Besides th ese in vitro applications, some in vivo applications have recently eme rged. Biomedical application of EP is thus a new interdisciplinary fie ld at the frontier of physics, chemistry and biology. This article int ends to give an informative background and an overview of several pres entations from the XIIth Symposium on Bioelectrochemistry and Bioenerg etics that dealt with this subject, as well as from the two round tabl es organized by the authors(1). Two procedures have already entered cl inical trials: the electroinsertion of CD4 molecules on red blood cell membranes, which uses EP delivered ex vivo, and antitumor electrochem otherapy, which uses EP delivered in vivo. An overview of current rese arch on the latter is given in more detail.