<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><sec id="j_raon-2019-0025_s_006_w2aab3b7c12b1b6b1aab1c18b1Aa"><h3>Background</h3><p>In electrochemotherapy (ECT), chemotherapeutics are first administered, followed by short 100 μs monopolar pulses. However, these pulses cause pain and muscle contractions. It is thus necessary to administer muscle relaxants, general anesthesia and synchronize pulses with the heart rhythm of the patient, which makes the treatment more complex. It was suggested in ablation with irreversible electroporation, that bursts of short high-frequency bipolar pulses could alleviate these problems. Therefore, we designed our study to verify if it is possible to use high-frequency bipolar pulses (HF-EP pulses) in electrochemotherapy.</p></sec><sec id="j_raon-2019-0025_s_007_w2aab3b7c12b1b6b1aab1c18b2Aa"><h3>Materials and methods</h3><p>We performed <italic>in vitro</italic> experiments on mouse skin melanoma (B16-F1) cells by adding 1–330 μM cisplatin and delivering either (a) eight 100 μs long monopolar pulses, 0.4–1.2 kV/cm, 1 Hz (ECT pulses) or (b) eight bursts at 1 Hz, consisting of 50 bipolar pulses. One bipolar pulse consisted of a series of 1 μs long positive and 1 μs long negative pulse (0.5–5 kV/cm) with a 1 μs delay in-between.</p></sec><sec id="j_raon-2019-0025_s_008_w2aab3b7c12b1b6b1aab1c18b3Aa"><h3>Results</h3><p>With both types of pulses, the combination of electric pulses and cisplatin was more efficient in killing cells than cisplatin or electric pulses only. However, we needed to apply a higher electric field in HF-EP (3 kV/cm) than in ECT (1.2 kV/cm) to obtain comparable cytotoxicity.</p></sec><sec id="j_raon-2019-0025_s_009_w2aab3b7c12b1b6b1aab1c18b4Aa"><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>It is possible to use HF-EP in electrochemotherapy; however, at the expense of applying higher electric fields than in classical ECT. The results obtained, nevertheless, offer an evidence that HF-EP could be used in electrochemotherapy with potentially alleviated muscle contractions and pain.</p></sec></abstract>

BackgroundIn electrochemotherapy (ECT), chemotherapeutics are first administered, followed by short 100 μs monopolar pulses. However, these pulses cause pain and muscle contractions. It is thus necessary to administer muscle relaxants, general anesthesia and synchronize pulses with the heart rhythm of the patient, which makes the treatment more complex. It was suggested in ablation with irreversible electroporation, that bursts of short high-frequency bipolar pulses could alleviate these problems. Therefore, we designed our study to verify if it is possible to use high-frequency bipolar pulses (HF-EP pulses) in electrochemotherapy.Materials and methodsWe performed in vitro experiments on mouse skin melanoma (B16-F1) cells by adding 1–330 μM cisplatin and delivering either (a) eight 100 μs long monopolar pulses, 0.4–1.2 kV/cm, 1 Hz (ECT pulses) or (b) eight bursts at 1 Hz, consisting of 50 bipolar pulses. One bipolar pulse consisted of a series of 1 μs long positive and 1 μs long negative pulse (0.5–5 kV/cm) with a 1 μs delay in-between.ResultsWith both types of pulses, the combination of electric pulses and cisplatin was more efficient in killing cells than cisplatin or electric pulses only. However, we needed to apply a higher electric field in HF-EP (3 kV/cm) than in ECT (1.2 kV/cm) to obtain comparable cytotoxicity.ConclusionsIt is possible to use HF-EP in electrochemotherapy; however, at the expense of applying higher electric fields than in classical ECT. The results obtained, nevertheless, offer an evidence that HF-EP could be used in electrochemotherapy with potentially alleviated muscle contractions and pain.

The use of high-frequency short bipolar pulses in cisplatin electrochemotherapy in vitro

Radiology and Oncology

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

BackgroundIn electrochemotherapy (ECT), chemotherapeutics are first administered, followed by short 100 μs monopolar pulses. However, these pulses cause pain...

The use of high-frequency short bipolar pulses in cisplatin electrochemotherapy in vitro

Article Category: Research Article

Published Online: Jun 01, 2019

Page range: 194 - 205

Received: Feb 04, 2019

Accepted: Apr 23, 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/raon-2019-0025

© 2019 Maria Scuderi, Matej Rebersek, Damijan Miklavcic, Janja Dermol-Cerne, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.