Anal. Chem. 2001, 73, 4469-4477
Electroporation of Single Cells and Tissues with an Electrolyte-filled Capillary Kerstin Nolkrantz,† Cecilia Farre,† Anke Brederlau,‡ Roger I. D. Karlsson,† Carrie Brennan,§ Peter S. Eriksson,# Stephen G. Weber,§ Mats Sandberg,⊥ and Owe Orwar*,|
Department of Chemistry, Go¨teborg University, SE-412 96 Go¨teborg, Sweden, Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Go¨teborg University, SE-413 90 Go¨teborg, Sweden, Department of Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, Department of Neurology, Institute of Clinical Neuroscience, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, SE-413 45 Go¨teborg, Sweden, Department of Medical Biophysics, Go¨teborg University, SE-413 90, Go¨teborg, Sweden, Department of Physical Chemistry and Microtechnology Centre, Chalmers University of Technology, SE-412 96 Go¨teborg, Sweden
We show how an electrolyte-filled capillary (EFC) coupled to a high-voltage power supply can be used as a versatile electroporation tool for the delivery of dyes, drugs, and biomolecules to the cytoplasm of single cells and cells in tissues. A large-voltage pulse applied across the EFC (fused silica, 30 cm long, 375-µm o.d., 30-µm i.d.) gives rise to a small electric field outside the terminus of the EFC, which causes pore formation in cell membranes and induces an electroosmotic flow of electrolyte. When the EFC contains cell-loading agents, then the electroosmotic flow delivers the agents at the site of pore formation. The combination of pore formation and delivery enables loading of materials into the cytoplasm. By patch-clamp and fluorescence microscopy, formation of pores was observed at estimated transmembrane voltages of
