OpenEP: an open-source simulator for electroporation-based tumor treatments
Abstract Electroporation (EP), the increase of cell membrane permeability due to the application of electric pulses, is a universal phenomenon with a broad range of applications. In medicine, some of the foremost EP-based tumor treatments are electrochemotherapy (ECT), irreversible electroporation,...
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| Autores principales: | , , , |
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| Formato: | article |
| Lenguaje: | EN |
| Publicado: |
Nature Portfolio
2021
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://doaj.org/article/ae03223ff54f42e098e905286c6980ec |
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| Sumario: | Abstract Electroporation (EP), the increase of cell membrane permeability due to the application of electric pulses, is a universal phenomenon with a broad range of applications. In medicine, some of the foremost EP-based tumor treatments are electrochemotherapy (ECT), irreversible electroporation, and gene electrotransfer (GET). The electroporation phenomenon is explained as the formation of cell membrane pores when a transmembrane cell voltage reaches a threshold value. Predicting the outcome of an EP-based tumor treatment consists of finding the electric field distribution with an electric threshold value covering the tumor (electroporated tissue). Threshold and electroporated tissue are also a function of the number of pulses, constituting a complex phenomenon requiring mathematical modeling. We present OpenEP, an open-source specific purpose simulator for EP-based tumor treatments, modeling among other variables, threshold, and electroporated tissue variations in time. Distributed under a free/libre user license, OpenEP allows the customization of tissue type; electrode geometry and material; pulse type, intensity, length, and frequency. OpenEP facilitates the prediction of an optimal EP-based protocol, such as ECT or GET, defined as the critical pulse dosage yielding maximum electroporated tissue with minimal damage. OpenEP displays a highly efficient shared memory implementation by taking advantage of parallel resources; this permits a rapid prediction of optimal EP-based treatment efficiency by pulse number tuning. |
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