fig2

Figure 2. Electric field simulations and vegetable experiments. (A) Reversible and irreversible areas of permeabilization in the standard electrode. (B) The same areas in the thin-needle electrode. Green indicates the electric field was above the reversible electroporation threshold (480 V/cm) and below the irreversible electroporation threshold (1050 V/cm). Red indicates the area where the field was above the irreversible threshold (1050 V/cm). These areas were obtained using COMSOL simulations of the electric field distribution. As can be seen, in both electrodes, the region between needles is covered by reversible electroporation, but the standard electrode presents larger areas of irreversible electroporation. (C,D) The electroporated plant tissue showed an electroporated area very similar to the simulations: (C) the standard electrode (1) was used, and (D) the thin-needle electrode (2) was used.