Membrane destabilizations supporting electropermeabilization.

The cell membrane can be permeabilized when subjected to calibrated short electric pulses. This membrane alteration can be reversible, leaving cell viability unaffected. This set of events is called Electropermeabilization. This is now used in clinical applications to introduce hydrophilic drugs into the cytoplasm. While an empirical control of the electrical parameters is obtained, our knowledge of the molecular mechanisms supporting the membrane alteration is very limited. This paper gives a critical review of the limits of the models which are proposed by taking into account the different experimental approaches.