Editing Electroporation (section)

=== Drug and gene delivery ===
{{Further|Electrochemotherapy|gene electrotransfer}}
Electroporation can also be used to help deliver drugs or genes into the cell by applying short and intense electric pulses that transiently permeabilize cell membrane, thus allowing the transport of molecules otherwise not transported through a cellular membrane. This procedure is referred to as [[electrochemotherapy]] when the molecules to be transported are chemotherapeutic agents or [[gene electrotransfer]] when the molecule to be transported is DNA. Scientists from [[Karolinska Institute]] and the [[University of Oxford]] use electroporation of [[Exosome complex|exosomes]] to deliver [[SiRNA|siRNAs]], antisense oligonucleotides, chemotherapeutic agents, and proteins specifically to neurons after injecting them systemically (in blood). Because these exosomes can cross the [[blood brain barrier|blood-brain barrier]], this protocol could solve the problem of poor delivery of medications to the central nervous system and may potentially treat [[Alzheimer's disease]], [[Parkinson's disease]], and [[brain cancer]], among other conditions.<ref name="five2">{{cite journal | vauthors = El-Andaloussi S, Lee Y, Lakhal-Littleton S, Li J, Seow Y, Gardiner C, Alvarez-Erviti L, Sargent IL, Wood MJ | s2cid = 34413410 | title = Exosome-mediated delivery of siRNA in vitro and in vivo | journal = Nature Protocols | volume = 7 | issue = 12 | pages = 2112–26 | date = December 2012 | pmid = 23154783 | doi = 10.1038/nprot.2012.131 }}</ref>

Research has shown that shock waves could be used for pre-treating the cell membrane prior to electroporation.<ref>{{Cite journal| vauthors = Hu Q, Hossain S, Joshi RP |date=2018-06-25|title=Analysis of a dual shock-wave and ultrashort electric pulsing strategy for electro-manipulation of membrane nanopores|url=https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-6463/aaca7a|journal=Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics|volume=51|issue=28|pages=285403|doi=10.1088/1361-6463/aaca7a|bibcode=2018JPhD...51B5403H|s2cid=125134522|issn=0022-3727}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Hossain S, Abdelgawad A | title = Analysis of membrane permeability due to synergistic effect of controlled shock wave and electric field application | journal = Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine | volume = 39 | issue = 1 | pages = 20–29 | date = 2020-01-02 | pmid = 31868023 | doi = 10.1080/15368378.2019.1706553 | s2cid = 209446699 }}</ref> This synergistic strategy has shown to reduce external voltage requirement and create larger pores. Also, application of shock waves allow scope to target desired membrane site. This procedure allows to control the size of the pore.