Electroporation uses high electric field gradients to create pores within the membrane of living cells in order to deliver a substance, for example a gene, into the cytoplasm. To achieve such gradients, current electroporation devices deliver voltage pulses in the kV range to the cell medium. We describe here a new device based on gold-microtube membranes that can accomplish electroporation with voltage pulses that are orders of magnitude smaller, 4 V. The percentages of electroporated bacteria were found to be more than an order of magnitude higher than obtained with a commercial electroporator.
Keywords: Electric field gradient; Electroporation; Escherichia coli; Gold-microtube membranes.