Calculating transmembrane voltage on the electric pulse-affected cell membrane: using molecular dynamics and finite element simulations

Abstract

Abstract In this study, the induced transmembrane voltage (ITV) was investigated by finite element method (FEM) of a spherical-shaped MCF-7 cell. Current study demonstrates how the thin layer that makes up a cell membrane can be substituted as the boundary between extracellular and intracellular by a particular surface conductivity. Moreover, for varied applied electric fields, the distribution of ITV on the cell membrane and its maximum value were experimentally assessed. Pore formation in cell membrane subjected to an external electric field was numerically studied by Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations of palmitoyloleoyl-phosphatidylcholine (POPC). The quantity of the electroporated cell surface area corresponds to the applied external electric field, and the dependency on electric field was calculated. As a result, when mentioned numerical methods were used for applying external electric field of 1500 V/cm to the cell suspension, the total cell surface area was electroporated 66% and 68% for MD and FEM.