BIOELECTRORHEOLOGICAL MODEL OF THE CELL .5. ELECTRODESTRUCTION OF CELLULAR MEMBRANE IN ALTERNATING ELECTRIC-FIELD

Recently proposed analysis of the extensil stress developed in a cellu lar membrane subjected to an alternating electric field (Pawlowski, P. , and M. Fikus, 1993. Bioelectrorheological model of the cell. 4. Anal ysis of the extensil deformation of the membrane in an alternating ele ctric field. Biophys. J. 65:535-540) was applied in calculations of ex tensil stress threshold values, sigma0e[d], producing experimentally o bserved electrodestruction of cells within the frequency range of 7 x 10(1) - 3 x 10(5) Hz. It was shown that the susceptibility (s[d] = 1/s igma0e[d]), of the membrane to this process varies with field frequenc y and depends on the type of cells. Electrodestruction is facilitated in the 10(5)-Hz field. A rheological hypothesis explaining the experim entally observed dependence of membrane stability on electric field fr equency was proposed and successfully tested for two other phenomena: electroporation and electrofusion.