Mechanisms of Action and Cross-Matrix
The titles and abstracts of the 2529 publications in the corpus were scanned for 30 mechanism terms specific to the electroporation literature. The matrix below shows how often each mechanism is reported in each application area.
From Mechanism to Clinical Effect
In the reversible regime the chain passes through drug entry; in the irreversible regime step 3 is skipped
Electrical Stimulus
A pulse train of controlled strength is applied between an electrode pair, producing an electric field distribution in the tissue.
Membrane Permeability
In cells where the induced transmembrane potential exceeds threshold, the membrane becomes transiently permeable.
Drug Entry
Bleomycin or cisplatin is carried into the cell; for bleomycin the accumulation increase is several hundred fold.
Cell Death
DNA damage, mitotic catastrophe and apoptosis; in the irreversible regime, direct loss of homeostasis.
Tissue and Immune Response
Vascular lock, antivascular effect and systemic response components driven by immunogenic cell death.
Mechanism Weight in the Literature
This table covers the whole corpus; mechanisms are biophysical phenomena, so the non-oncological application area (cardiac pulsed-field ablation) is counted here too.
“Publications” is the total number of publications where the term was detected; “corpus share” is that as a fraction of 2529. The percentage on the right is not a raw count but the share within the area: the proportion of that area's publications containing the term. Since the areas differ greatly in size, this is the comparable measure; the figure in parentheses is the publication count. Only areas with at least four such publications are listed.
| Mechanism | Publications | Corpus share | Areas where it is most concentrated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reversible Membrane PermeabilisationMembrane Biophysics | 1226 | 48% | |
| Irreversible Pore Formation and Cell DeathMembrane Biophysics | 1131 | 45% | |
| Increased Intracellular Bleomycin AccumulationDrug Transport | 528 | 21% | |
| Electric Field Distribution and ModellingDose and Device | 268 | 11% | |
| Optimisation of Pulse ParametersDose and Device | 236 | 9% | |
| Gene Electrotransfer (Plasmid DNA)Gene and Immune Pathways | 226 | 9% | |
| Potentiation of Cytotoxic Drug PermeabilityDrug Transport | 208 | 8% | |
| Increased Intracellular Cisplatin AccumulationDrug Transport | 204 | 8% | |
| Apoptosis InductionCell Death Pathways | 192 | 8% | |
| Necrosis and NecroptosisCell Death Pathways | 187 | 7% | |
| Electrode Geometry and PlacementDose and Device | 181 | 7% | |
| Muscle Contraction and Anaesthesia RequirementDose and Device | 137 | 5% | |
| Tissue Conductivity and Impedance ChangeDose and Device | 127 | 5% | |
| Thermal Effect and Joule HeatingDose and Device | 112 | 4% | |
| Systemic / Abscopal Immune ResponseGene and Immune Pathways | 87 | 3% | |
| Calcium Electroporation and ATP DepletionDrug Transport | 86 | 3% | |
| Interleukin-12 Mediated Immune StimulationGene and Immune Pathways | 70 | 3% | |
| Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Oxidative StressCell Death Pathways | 65 | 3% | |
| Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor CombinationGene and Immune Pathways | 62 | 2% | |
| Preservation of Nerve and Vascular StructuresVascular and Tissue Effects | 60 | 2% | |
| Immunogenic Cell Death (ICD)Gene and Immune Pathways | 56 | 2% | |
| Nanosecond Pulsed Electric Field (nsPEF)Membrane Biophysics | 54 | 2% |
Term matching runs only on the 2383 records that carry a machine-readable abstract; the 146 records without one are not represented in the matrix. The counts are therefore a lower bound on a mechanism’s true weight in the literature.
Thematic Mechanism Groups
Figures give the number of publications in which the term was detected.