Emerging electroporation-based technologies for wound care

Wound healing is a complex phenomenon that is very difficult to control. Nevertheless, control is required to prevent abnormal healing processes such scars or nonhealing wounds. In this chapter, we discuss the application of high-voltage, pulsed electric fields in wound healing with particular emphasis on burn wounds. High-voltage, pulsed electric fields lead to the change in the cell membrane permeability, a process coined as electroporation. In the recent decades, electroporation found multiple applications in medicine and biotechnology, yet its application in wound healing has started to emerge recently. The chapter briefly describes the fundamentals of tissue electroporation and electroporation uses in medicine and then focuses on examples of electroporation uses as a model for scarless wound healing, scar reduction following third-degree burns, skin rejuvenation, burn wounds disinfection, and gene electrotransfer to treat chronic wounds.