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Electroporation Education


Explore this section to learn about the many applications for electroporation and electrofusion. BTX generally recommends a system that has an exponential decay waveform for bacteria, plant cells, insect cells, and yeast applications, and a square waveform for mammalian cell work.

1. What is Electroporation?

Electroporation has become the research standard for the introduction of biological material into cells.
Electroporation is the application of controlled electrical pulses to living cells in order to permeabilize the cell membrane for the purposes of transfection or transformation. These pulses are delivered to a pair of electrodes by a pulse generator. The pulse induces a transmembrane potential which causes the reversible breakdown of the cellular membrane. This action results in the formation of pores that allow molecules, such as DNA, proteins or antibodies, to enter the cell. The process involves two variables, field strength and pulse length. These variables are manipulated in order to maximize the efficiency of gene transfer. A third variable, pulse shape, is dependent upon the type of pulse generator used. Below, we have included an Optimization Guide to help you achieve the best results. Due to it’s ease of use, reproducibility, high efficiency and low toxicity, electroporation has become the method of choice for introducing many types of molecules into cells such as mammalian, bacterial, yeast, plant and insect.

 

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