Cells can be funny. Try to grow them with a slightly wrong recipe, and they turn over and die. But hit them with an electric field strong enough to knock over a horse, and they do enough things to justify international meetings, to fill a sizable book, and to lead one to speak of an entirely new technology for cell manipulation. The very improbability of these events not only raises questions about why things happen but also leads to a long list of practical systems in which the application of strong electric fields might enable the merger of cell contents or the introduction of alien but vital material. Inevitably, the basic questions and the practical applications will not keep in step. The questions are intrinsically tough. It is hard enough to analyze the action of the relatively weak fields that rotate or align cells, but it is nearly impossible to predict responses to the cell-shredding bursts of electricity that cause them to fuse or to open up to very large molecular assemblies. Even so, theoretical studies and systematic examination of model systems have produced some creditable results, ideas which should ultimately provide hints of what to try next.

Inhaltsangabe1 Dielectrophoresis and Rotation of Cells.- 2 Cellular Spin Resonance.- 3 Dielectrophoresis: Behavior of Microorganisms and Effect of Electric Fields on Orientation Phenomena.- 4 The Relaxation Hysteresis of Membrane Electroporation.- 5 Electrical Breakdown of Lipid Bilayer Membranes: Phenomenology and Mechanism.- 6 Stochastic Model of Electric Field-Induced Membrane Pores.- 7 Theory of Electroporation.- 8 Leaks Induced by Electrical Breakdown in the Erythrocyte Membrane.- 9 Electroporation of Cell Membranes: Mechanisms and Applications.- 10 Electrofusion Kinetics: Studies Using Electron Microscopy and Fluorescence Contents Mixing.- 11 Electrofusion of Lipid Bilayers.- 12 Role of Proteases in Electrofusion of Mammalian Cells.- 13 Electrofusion of Mammalian Cells and Giant Unilamellar Vesicles.- 14 Cell Fusion and Cell Poration by Pulsed Radio-Frequency Electric Fields.- 15 The Mechanism of Electroporation and Electrofusion in Erythrocyte Membranes.- 16 Producing Monoclonal Antibodies by Electrofusion.- 17 Generation of Human Hybridomas by Electrofusion.- 18 Gaining Access to the Cytosol: Clues to the Control and Mechanisms of Exocytosis and Signal Transduction Coupling.- 19 Gene Transfer by Electroporation: A Practical Guide.- 20 Electropermeabilization and Electrosensitivity of Different Types of Mammalian Cells.- 21 Molecular Genetic Applications of Electroporation.- 22 Plant Gene Transfer Using Electrofusion and Electroporation.- 23 Electric Field-Induced Fusion and Cell Reconstitution with Preselected Single Protoplasts and Subprotoplasts of Higher Plants.- 24 Critical Evaluation of Electromediated Gene Transfer and Transient Expression in Plant Cells.- 25 Transformation Studies in Maize and Other Cereals.- 26 Cells in Electric Fields: Physical and Practical Electronic Aspects of Electro Cell Fusion and Electroporation.- 27 External Electric Field-Induced Transmembrane Potentials in Biological Systems: Features, Effects, and Optical Monitoring.