A circuit design of a low-cost, portable and programmable electroporation device for biomedical applications

Electroporation for transdermal drug delivery or for non-invasive monitoring of patients could allow a new generation of medical devices to be developed for low-cost healthcare. The existing electroporation systems today are bulky, expensive or not fully programmable. Therefore, a compact, low-cost and programmable device was developed and evaluated. A circuit is described herein which provides a variety of adjustable high-voltage (2-300V) electric waveforms (pulsed and pulsed-biphasic) for electroporation. Evaluation showed that this device provides for precise regulation of the magnitude and waveform of a high-voltage over a wide range of impedance, important for in vivo/human use. Also, the device was evaluated in vitro to be capable of enhancing transdermal extraction of metabolites, like uric acid, for non-invasive monitoring and transdermal delivery of medications, like insulin, for non-invasive drug delivery. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.