Mechanistic insights into electroporation: PEF applications in plant tissue disruption

Pulsed electric fields (PEF) alter cell membrane permeability in plant tissues, producing measurable physical effects that range from nanoscale pore formation to tissue-scale changes in transport, hydration, and texture. This review describes plant tissues as heterogeneous electrolytic systems in an applied field, where charge accumulation elevates the transmembrane potential, initiates pore formation, and drives time-dependent pore dynamics that govern reversible and irreversible permeabilization. Pore dynamics progress through formation, expansion, stabilization, and resealing, occurring over timescales from nanoseconds to seconds, ultimately determining whether cellular compartmentalization is preserved or lost. These membrane-level events are linked to changes in electrical properties, particularly conductivity and impedance, and cascade into downstream effects, such as ion leakage, turgor pressure loss, redistribution of intracellular water and solutes, and modified diffusion pathways that control drying, extraction, and osmotic mass transfer. Beyond the membranes, we explain how permeabilization-driven redistribution of liquids and solutes alters pectin-rich adhesion regions and cell wall-associated behavior, promoting cell separation and influencing the development of mechanical strength, shrinkage, and porosity. This review also highlights the synergies between PEF and biological and chemical processes, including enzyme-assisted extraction, osmotic dehydration, fermentation-driven transformations, and protein structuring. Overall, reproducible PEF-driven plant tissue disintegration requires matrix-specific, mechanism-led selection of field conditions and consistent reporting to enable logical comparisons across studies.