Optimization of Electric Pulse Amplitude and Frequency In Vitro for Low Voltage and High Frequency Electrochemotherapy

During standard electrochemotherapy (ECT), using a train of 1,000 V/cm amplitude rectangular pulses with 1 Hz frequency, patients experience an unpleasant sensation and slight edema. According to the patients, muscle contractions provoked by high amplitude (about 1,000 V/cm) and low repetition frequency (1 Hz) pulses are the most unpleasant and painful sensations. Recently, ECT using low voltage and higher repetition frequency (LVHF) has been shown to be an effective tool for inhibiting tumor growth. The aim of the present study was to optimize electric pulse amplitude and repetition frequency for LVHF ECT by sampling the different sets of pulse parameters on cell viability and permeabilization. In ECT, a reversible effect based on high permeabilization is desirable. For this purpose, we used bleomycin to evaluate the permeabilization of K562 and MIA-PACA2 cells caused by low voltage (50–150 V/cm) and higher repetition frequency (4–6 kHz) electric pulses. We show that the reversible effect with electropermeabilization of the cells caused by LVHF ECT is accessible; this interaction is more effective for electric pulses with 70 V/cm amplitude.