Additionally to the heating promotion, research data
strongly suggests that the applied electric field under OH
causes electroporation of cell membranes. The cell electroporation
is defined as the formation of pores in cell membranes
due to the presence of an electric field and as
consequence, the permeability of the membrane is enhanced
and material diffusion throughout the membrane
is achieved by electro-osmosis (An & King, 2007; Coster
& Zimmermann, 1975; Lima & Sastry, 1999). It is assumed
that the electric breakdown or electroporation mechanism
is dominant for the non-thermal effects of OH