Strength-duration curve for an electrically excitable tissue extended down to near 1 nanosecond

As part of a health and safety assessment of ultrawideband sources, it was useful to determine stimulation thresholds for an electrically excitable tissue down into the low nanosecond range. Stimulation thresholds were measured using gastrocnemius muscles isolated from 16 frogs (Rana sp.). Single pu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	IEEE transactions on plasma science Vol. 32; no. 4; pp. 1587 - 1599
Main Authors:	Rogers, W.R., Merritt, J.H., Comeaux, J.A., Kuhnel, C.T., Moreland, D.F., Teltschik, D.G., Lucas, J.H., Murphy, M.R.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	New York IEEE 01-08-2004 The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
Subjects:	Biological tissues Contacts Electric currents Electrodes Health and safety Muscles Nanobioscience Plasma Pulse measurements Threshold voltage Tissues Transducers Ultra wideband technologies Ultra wideband technology
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Summary:	As part of a health and safety assessment of ultrawideband sources, it was useful to determine stimulation thresholds for an electrically excitable tissue down into the low nanosecond range. Stimulation thresholds were measured using gastrocnemius muscles isolated from 16 frogs (Rana sp.). Single pulses were delivered with a pair of surface electrodes, and muscle twitch was measured with an isotonic transducer. Pulse durations of 100, 10, and 1 ms; 100, 10 and 1 /spl mu/s; and 100 and /spl ap/1 ns were used. Tissue voltage and current strength-duration (S-D) curves on log-log plots had a classic appearance, with thresholds for ultrashort pulses being linear. For a pulse of /spl ap/1 ns, the mean threshold voltage in the muscle was 4.5 kV and the mean threshold peak current was 35 A. When delivered by direct contact, a single ultrawideband pulse of /spl ap/1 ns could reliably produce a biological effect, stimulation of an electrically excitable tissue. The observation that the S-D curves extended downward to /spl ap/1 ns in a linear manner suggested that classical ion channel mechanisms regulated excitation and that other processes, such as electroporation, did not occur. Although a single nanosecond pulse delivered by direct contact can elicit a biological response, such a stimulus in air is unlikely to produce an effect.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23
ISSN:	0093-3813 1939-9375
DOI:	10.1109/TPS.2004.831758