Nanosecond pulsed electric field interactions with microglia and astrocytes

Pulsed electrical fields (PEFs) that weaken the integrity of cellular membranes have been used for a variety of biomedical applications. Recent work suggests that nanosecond PEFs (nsPEFs) might be more beneficial than longer duration PEFs due to their slightly different mechanism of interaction with the cells. The nervous system presents an attractive, yet underutilized, biological target for nsPFE applications. In this paper we describe an in vitro primary mixed cortical cell system to test the effects of nsPFEs.