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24
Electroporation for
Electrochemotherapy
and Gene Therapy
Maja Cemazar, Tadej Kotnik, Gregor Sersa,
and Damijan Miklavcic
24.1 ELECTROPORATION: THE PHENOMENON
The theoretical understanding of the phenomenon of electroporation is crucial for planning and
optimization of protocols for drug and/or gene delivery. In the last four decades, a number of tenta-
tive theoretical descriptions of this phenomenon have been proposed, assuming either deformation
of membrane lipids,
1–3
their phase transition,
4
breakdown of interfaces between the lipid domains,
5
or denaturation of membrane proteins.
6
However, each of these former descriptions has serious ...