Determining Electroporation Cuvette Gap Size

In our last post on electroporation we discussed the basics of electroporation. The focus of this post will be on determining the correct gap size for electroporation cuvettes. Electroporation cuvettes are disposable cuvettes with aluminum electrodes for the electroporation of eukaryotic cells, bacteria, and yeasts. Electroporation cuvettes are generally available in three different sizes with gap sizes or gap widths of 1mm, 2mm, 4mm. The electroporation cuvettes are sterilized with gamma radiation and are individually wrapped to guarantee sterility. Disposable electroporation cuvettes help save time and eliminate the possibility of carryover contamination. The cuvettes are available in three different sizes with filling volumes of 100 µl  microliters for the white capped 1 mm gap size, 400 µl microliters for the blue capped 2 mm gap size, and 800 µl microliters for the red capped 4 mm  gap size electroporation cuvette.

Electroporation Cuvette Description	Gap Width	Filling Volume μl (microliters)	Cell Types
1 mm Gap Sterile Electroporation Cuvette	1 mm (White Cap)	100 μl	Bacteria
2 mm Gap Sterile Electroporation Cuvette	2 mm (Blue Cap)	400 μl	Yeast
4 mm Gap Sterile Electroporation Cuvette	4 mm (Red Cap)	800 μl	Mammalian Cells

The gap size is the distance between the electrodes and is important when optimizing your electroporation experiment. Gap size is used when determining the field strength (kV)  by using the formula of voltage divided by gap size (cm). If the desired field strength and gap size is known you can also determine what the appropriate voltage would be required to successfully perform the experiment. 

Optimization for electroporation takes many different factors into consideration and determining the cuvette gap size is only one consideration of optimizing the experiment. We will be discussing other optimizations in upcoming posts next year so be sure to subscribe to our blog to stay informed with new updates.