Biomedical effects induced by the monocycle pulse

Abstract

Based on multilayer dielectric model, for the spherical biological cell subjected to pulsed electric field (PEF), a simplified equivalent circuit was presented. According to a mathematical analysis of a monocycle electric pulse (MEP), the relationship between a given pulse duration and a center frequency was established and its main energy was concentrated on the center frequency. Thus the transmenbrane potential of external and inner membranes induced by the MEP with various durations was simply calculated by using a harmonic function with different center frequency and the equivalent circuit equations. Furthermore, the threshold electric intensities and window effect of the electroporation with different pulse duration were discussed assuming that the external and inner membranes would breakdown under certain potential values. In view of current difficulty in developing the high peak power PEF devices and the advantage of the MEP in living cell's electroporation effects, an experimental scheme was presented in which a Gaussian pulse was generated by a photoconductive semiconductor switch (PCSS) and a MEP was produced through a Blumlein transmission line (BTL).