Figure 1

Pulse-driven transmembrane potential. Voltages across the external membrane of a human lymphocyte with a radius of 5.0 μm and an intracellular membrane-bound structure with a radius of 0.5 μm, after a pulsed field step from 0 to 8 MV/m in growth medium, calculated from a simple dielectric shell model of the cell [7,12], showing that the potential across the external membrane can be expected to reach 1 V in less than 2 ns. Electrical parameters are derived from values in [33]. The membranes of intracellular vesicles or organelles like mitochondria will charge more quickly because the capacitance of these smaller structures is less than that of the cell membrane.