Master's Thesis, MIT, January 1994.
Abstract:
Electroporation is a well established method for permeablizing bilayer membranes. Recently there has been interest in the electroporation of intact tissue for applications including transdermal drug delivery and enhanced local chemotherapy. This thesis presents a study of the changes in the electrical properties due to electroporation of human stratum corneum in vitro. There are two primary goals to the study: to identify the underlying mechanism for for the dramatic change in skin permeability and to relate these changes to previously observed changes in the transdermal flux of certain molecules. Electrical impedance measurements made before and after electroporation of human skin were used to characterize the changes taking place in the skin.