Vesicle deformation and poration under strong dc electric fields

Abstract

When subject to applied electric pulses, a lipid membrane exhibits complex responses including electrodeformation and electroporation. In this work, the electrodeformation of giant unilamellar vesicles under strong dc electric fields was investigated. Specifically, the degree of deformation was quantified as a function of the applied field strength and the electrical conductivity ratio of the fluids inside and outside of the vesicles. The vesicles were made from L-α-phosphatidylcholine with diameters ranging from 14 to 30 μm. Experiments were performed with field strengths ranging from 0.9 to 2.0 kV/cm, and intra-to-extra-vesicular conductivity ratios varying between 1.92 and 53.0. With these parametric configurations, the vesicles exhibited prolate elongations along the direction of the electric field. The degree of deformation was, in general, significant. In some cases, the aspect ratio of a deformed vesicle exceeded 10, representing a strong-deformation regime previously not explored. The aspect ratio scaled quadratically with the field strength, and increased asymptotically to a maximum value at high conductivity ratios. Appreciable area and volumetric changes were observed both during and after pulsation, indicating the concurrence of electroporation. A theoretical model is developed to predict these large deformations in the strongly permeabilized limit, and the results are compared with the experimental data. Both agreements and discrepancies are found, and the model limitations and possible extensions are discussed.