Coupling characteristics of cellular electroporation and electrodeformation based on dynamic Young’s modulus: influence of membrane thickness_Journal of Biomedical Engineering

Authors：

WEI Xiangbiao ^1,2 , ZOU Shengnan ² , GUO Fanyu ² ,  LIU Linying ³

1. College of Advanced Manufacturing, Fuzhou University, Quanzhou, Fujian 362251, P. R. China;
2. Quanzhou Equipment Manufacturing Research Center, Haixi Institutes, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Quanzhou, Fujian 362200, P. R. China;
3. College of Physics and Information Engineering, Quanzhou Normal University, Quanzhou, Fujian 362000, P. R. China;

Corresponding?author：

LIU Linying, Email: liu_linying601@163.com

Keywords：

Electroporation; Electrodeformation; Dynamic Young’s modulus; Pore radius evolution; Electroporated area

DOI：

10.7507/1001-5515.202603055

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To investigate the effect of membrane thickness on the coupled electroporation–electrodeformation response of the cell membrane, a coupled model incorporating a dynamic Young’s modulus was developed to simulate transmembrane voltage, spatiotemporal pore evolution, and cell deformation at different membrane thicknesses. As membrane thickness increased from 6 to 10 nm, both the transmembrane voltage and pore radius peaked earlier. At 50 ns, pore density at the cell poles increased by 19.78%–67.44%, total electroporated area by 257.48%–859.36%, and the reduction in Young’s modulus became more pronounced. Despite increased membrane softening, peak Maxwell stress decreased by 26.15%–63.28% and remained the dominant factor, reducing peak displacement at the cell poles by 12.35%–34.75%. These findings show that membrane thickness modulates the coupled response by jointly affecting electrically induced pore formation, membrane mechanical properties, and Maxwell stress. The model provides a theoretical basis for designing pulse parameters for cells with different membrane structural characteristics.

Citation： WEI Xiangbiao, ZOU Shengnan, GUO Fanyu, LIU Linying. Coupling characteristics of cellular electroporation and electrodeformation based on dynamic Young’s modulus: influence of membrane thickness. Journal of Biomedical Engineering, 2026, 43(4): 784-790. doi: 10.7507/1001-5515.202603055 Copy

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Journal of Biomedical Engineering

Coupling characteristics of cellular electroporation and electrodeformation based on dynamic Young’s modulus: influence of membrane thickness

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