A Vivens Ex Vivo Study on the Synergistic Effect of Electrolysis and Freezing on the Cell Nucleus

PLoS One. 2015 Dec 22;10(12):e0145133. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0145133. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Freezing-cryosurgery, and electrolysis-electrochemical therapy (EChT), are two important minimally invasive surgery tissue ablation technologies. Despite major advantages they also have some disadvantages. Cryosurgery cannot induce cell death at high subzero freezing temperatures and requires multiple freeze thaw cycles, while EChT requires high concentrations of electrolytic products-which makes it a lengthy procedure. Based on the observation that freezing increases the concentration of solutes (including products of electrolysis) in the frozen region and permeabilizes the cell membrane to these products, this study examines the hypothesis that there could be a synergistic effect between freezing and electrolysis in their use together for tissue ablation. Using an animal model we refer to as vivens ex vivo, which may be of value in reducing the use of animals for experiments, combined with a Hematoxylin stain of the nucleus, we show that there are clinically relevant protocols in which the cell nucleus appears intact when electrolysis and freezing are used separately but is affected by certain combinations of electrolysis and freezing.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cell Nucleus / chemistry*
  • Cell Nucleus / pathology
  • Cryosurgery / methods
  • Electrolysis*
  • Freezing*
  • Humans
  • Liver / chemistry*
  • Liver / pathology
  • Swine

Grants and funding

The commercial affiliation with Inter Science GmbH of M. K. S., E. G., P. M. and B. R. did not play a role in funding this study. The study did not require external funding since it did not involve significant costs.