We tested if picosecond electric pulses (psEP; 190 kV/cm, 500 ps at 50% height), which are much shorter than channel activation time, can activate voltage-gated (VG) channels. Cytosolic Ca2+ was monitored by Fura-2 ratiometric imaging in GH3 and NG108 cells (which express multiple types of VG calcium channels, VGCC), and in CHO cells (which express no VGCC). Trains of up to 100 psEP at 1 kHz elicited no response in CHO cells. However, even a single psEP significantly increased Ca2+ in both GH3 (by 114+/−48 nM) and NG108 cells (by 6 +/−1.1 nM). Trains of 100 psEP amplified the response to 379+/−33 nM and 719+/−315 nM, respectively. Ca2+ responses peaked within 2–15 s and recovered for over 100 s; they were 80–100% inhibited by verapamil and ω-conotoxin, but not by the substitution of Na+ with N-methyl-D-glucamine. There was no response to psEP in Ca2+-free medium, but adding external Ca2+ even 10 s later evoked Ca2+ response. We conclude that electrical stimuli as short as 500 ps can cause long-lasting opening of VGCC by a mechanism which does not involve conventional electroporation, heating (which was under 0.06 °K per psEP), or membrane depolarization by opening of VG Na+ channels.

Blast traumatic brain injury (bTBI) has now been identified to associate with adverse health consequences among combat veterans. Post-traumatic stress disorder linked with explosive blasts, for example, may result from such brain injury. The fundamental questions about the nature, diagnosis, and long-term consequences of bTBI and causative relationship to post-traumatic stress disorder remain elusive, however. A better understanding of brain tissue injury requires elucidation of potential mechanisms. One such mechanism may be generation of microcavitation bubbles in the brain after an explosive blast and their subsequent interaction with brain cells. Using a controlled electrical discharge system, we have successfully generated shock waves (∼10 MPa) and microbubbles (20-30 μm) in the cell culture of mouse astrocytes. Detachment of astrocytes from the substrate after exposure to microbubbles was observed, and it depended on repetitive exposures. Of the cells that survived the initial assault, several subcellular changes were monitored and determined using fluorescent microscopy, including cell viability, cytoskeletal reorganization, changes in focal adhesion, membrane permeability, and potential onset of apoptosis. While the astrocytes impacted by the shock wave only demonstrated essentially unaltered cellular behavior, the astrocytes exposed to microbubbles exhibited significantly different responses, including production of reactive oxygen species by collapse of microbubbles. In the present study, we characterized and report for the first time the altered biophysical and subcellular properties in astrocytes in response to exposure to the combination of shock waves and microbubbles.

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