Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Hospital 39058RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany.
60994Philips Research, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
Sci Prog. 2023 Jan-Mar;106(1):368504231156294. doi: 10.1177/00368504231156294.
Electroporation (EP) is widely used in medicine, such as cancer treatment, in form of electrochemotherapy or irreversible electroporation (IRE). For EP device testing, living cells or tissue inside a living organism (including animals) are needed. Plant-based models seem to be a promising alternative to substitute animal models in research. The aim of this study is to find a suitable plant-based model for visual evaluation of IRE, and to compare the geometry of electroporated areas with in-vivo animal data.For this purpose, a variety of fruit and vegetables were selected and visually evaluated after 0/1/2/4/6/8/12/16/24 h post-EP. Apple and potato were found to be suitable models as they enabled a visual evaluation of the electroporated area. For these models, the size of the electroporated area was determined after 0/1/2/4/6/8/12/16/24 h. For apples, a well-defined electroporated area was visual within two hours, while in potatoes it reached a plateau after eight hours only. The electroporated area of apple, which showed the fastest visual results was then compared to a retrospectively evaluated swine liver IRE dataset which had been obtained for similar conditions. The electroporated area of the apple and swine liver both showed a spherical geometry of comparable size. For all experiments, the standard protocol for human liver IRE was followed. To conclude, potato and apple were found to be suitable plant-based models for the visual evaluation of electroporated area after irreversible EP, with apple being the best choice for fast visual results. Given the comparable range, the size of the electroporated area of the apple may be promising as a quantitative predictor in animal tissue. Even if plant-based models cannot completely replace animal experiments, they can be used in the early stages of EP device development and testing, decreasing animal experiments to the necessary minimum.
电穿孔（EP）在医学领域得到广泛应用，例如电化学疗法或不可逆电穿孔（IRE）治疗癌症。对于 EP 设备测试，需要在活体生物（包括动物）内部的活细胞或组织。植物模型似乎是替代动物模型进行研究的有前途的选择。本研究的目的是找到一种适合于 IRE 可视化评估的植物模型，并比较电穿孔区域的几何形状与体内动物数据。为此，选择了多种水果和蔬菜，在 EP 后 0/1/2/4/6/8/12/16/24 小时进行了视觉评估。发现苹果和土豆是合适的模型，因为它们可以对电穿孔区域进行视觉评估。对于这些模型，在 0/1/2/4/6/8/12/16/24 小时后确定了电穿孔区域的大小。对于苹果，在两小时内可以清晰地看到电穿孔区域，而在土豆中仅在八小时后才达到平台期。然后将显示最快视觉结果的苹果电穿孔区域与为类似条件获得的回溯评估的猪肝 IRE 数据集进行比较。苹果和猪肝的电穿孔区域均显示出相似大小的球形几何形状。对于所有实验，均遵循了人类肝脏 IRE 的标准方案。总之，发现土豆和苹果是适合用于不可逆 EP 后电穿孔区域可视化评估的植物模型，而苹果是快速视觉结果的最佳选择。鉴于可比范围，苹果电穿孔区域的大小可能是动物组织中定量预测的有希望指标。即使植物模型不能完全替代动物实验，它们也可以在 EP 设备开发和测试的早期阶段使用，将动物实验减少到必要的最低限度。
