Abstract
The behaviour of cells can be altered when they are submitted to electric fields. In this paper, the physical background which is needed to understand the effects of electric fields on living cells is described. The different biotechnological applications of those effects are then reported. The growth of micro-organisms and the differentiation of plant callus can be increased when cells are submitted to low intensity currents. Electrogenic metabolic activities can be modulated by external fields. Strong field pulses of short duration induce a new transient but fully reversible state of the plasma membrane which is then permeabilized and fusogenic. As the cell viability is not affected, this “electropermeabilization” is used for the direct transfer of genetic information into the cytoplasm and for the production of viable hybrids.
Published Version
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