Multiphysics Analysis Of Nspef Induced Electrodeformation In A Dispersive Cell Model

Exposed to the nanosecond pulsed electric field (nsPEF), biological cells can be stretched in the direction parallel to the electric field direction. A multiphysics model to investigate electrodeformation of a spherical cell with double-layered plasma membrane accounting for both electroporation and dielectric relaxation of the membrane is proposed. Transmembrane potential, Maxwell stress tensor, total elastic strain energy, and deformation degree, the typical influential factors and indicators for electroporation and electrodeformation, are probed via the above multiphysics model under the action of unipolar and bipolar nsPEFs. The results suggest that the double-layered model can reflect the experimental cellular deformation more accurately than the single-layered model in that the long axis of the ellipsoid is stretched several micrometers in the double-layered model, while it is stretched several nanometers in the single-layered model. And merging the effect of dielectric relaxation into the model leads to a relatively lighter but faster deformation extent, and applying bipolar nsPEF alleviates the stretch for electrodeformation quantified with the lower aspect ratio of two principal radii of the ellipsoidal cell and the lower elastic strain energy. Our model can reflect the temporal evolution of electroporation and electrodeformation procedure more accurately, which is instructive to exert the nsPEF in biochemical experiments and clinical applications.