Growth Inhibition and Membrane Permeabilization of Candida lusitaniae Using Varied Pulse Shape Electroporation

Candida lusitaniae is an opportunistic yeast pathogen, which can readily develop resistance to antifungal compounds and result in a complex long-term treatment. The efficient treatment is difficult since structure and metabolic properties of the fungal cells are similar to those of eukaryotic host. One of the potential methods to improve the inhibition rate or the cell permeability to inhibitors is the application of electroporation. In this work we investigated the dynamics of the growth inhibition and membrane permeabilization of C. lusitaniae by utilizing the various pulse shape and duration electric field pulses. Our results indicated that single electroporation procedure using 8 kV/cm electric field may result in up to 51 ± 5% inhibition rate. Also it has been experimentally shown that the electroporation pulse shape may influence the inhibitory effect; however, the amplitude of the electric field and the pulse energy remain the most important parameters for definition of the treatment outcome. The dynamics of the cell membrane permeabilization in the 2–8 kV/cm electric field were overviewed.