Electroporation by concentric-type needle electrodes and arrays

•Handmade concentric-type needle electrodes and arrays produced for in-vivo electroporation.•Electro-transfection achieved under lower bias (10 V) and smaller working area (10 mm3).•Electro-transfection effected in the brain of zebrafish.•Lesser tissue damage and smaller wounds produced.

The efficacy of genomic medicine depends on gene transfer efficiency. In this area, electroporation has been found to be a highly promising method for physical gene transfer. However, electroporation raises issues related to electrical safety, tissue damage, and the number of required wounds. Concentric-type needle electrodes seek to address these issues by using a lower bias (10 V), a single wound, fewer processing steps, and a smaller working area (≈ 10 mm3), thus offering greater accuracy and precision. Moreover, the needle can be arrayed to simultaneously treat several target regions. This paper proposes a novel method using concentric-type needle electrodes to improve the efficacy of genomic medicine in terms of electrical safety, human factor and usability engineering.