## 3 Results
When considering the spherical Au NP configuration (Figure 5d-f), only when the amplitude of the external applied electric field was set equal to \(E^{99\text{th}}_{\text{MAX}}\), the \(V_{m}\) values were high enough to enable pore opening for \(\theta\) equal to 90\({}^{\circ}\) (continuous gray line), while when the amplitude of the external applied electric field was set equal to \(E^{99\text{th}}_{\text{AllBox}}\), \(V_{m}\) values were comparable to the critical threshold for pore opening for \(\theta\) equal to 90\({}^{\circ}\), enabling a slow increase in pore density (Figure 5e). This behavior is highlighted in the enlarged detail of Figure 5d: a slight decrease in \(V_{m}\) due to pore opening was observed only for \(E^{99\text{th}}_{\text{MAX}}\) and for \(\theta\) equal to 90\({}^{\circ}\) (continuous gray line). The membrane conductivity (Figure 5f) showed an increase from the starting value of 1.26 \(\times\) 10\({}^{-7}\) to the maximum values equal to 8.2 \(\times\) 10\({}^{-5}\) S/m and 0.19 \(\times\) 10\({}^{-3}\) S/m for \(E^{99\text{th}}_{\text{AllBox}}\) (red lines) and \(E^{99\text{th}}_{\text{MAX}}\) (gray lines), respectively, at arch lengths equal to 15.69 and 47.2 \(\upmu\)m, corresponding to \(\theta\) equal to 90\({}^{\circ}\) and 270\({}^{\circ}\), i.e., at cell poles. The variation in the conductivity along the cell arc indicated that the portion of the membrane corresponding to \(\theta\) rising from 65\({}^{\circ}\) to 115\({}^{\circ}\) and from 245\({}^{\circ}\) to 295\({}^{\circ}\) for \(E^{99\text{th}}_{\text{MAX}}\) (gray lines), and to \(\theta\) rising from 75\({}^{\circ}\) to 105\({}^{\circ}\) and from 255\({}^{\circ}\) to 285\({}^{\circ}\) for \(E^{99\textMoreover, for the cubic Au NP configuration (Figure 5g-i), only when the amplitude of the external applied electric field was set equal to \(E^{99\text{th}}_{\text{MAX}}\), the \(V_{m}\) values were high enough to enable pore opening for \(\theta\) equal to \(90^{\circ}\) (continuous gray line), while for \(\theta\) equal to \(45^{\circ}\), \(V_{m}\) values were comparable to the critical threshold for pore opening enabling a slow increase in pore density (Figure 5h). This behavior is highlighted in the enlarged detail of Figure 5g: a slight decrease in \(V_{m}\) due to pore opening was observed only for \(E^{99\text{th}}_{\text{MAX}}\) and for \(\theta\) equal to \(90^{\circ}\) (continuous gray line), while no decrease was observed in the other cases. The membrane conductivity for \(E^{99\text{th}}_{\text{MAX}}\) (Figure 5f) showed an increase comparable to the values observed for \(d_{1}\), ranging from the starting value of 1.26 \(\times\) 10\({}^{-7}\) to the maximum value equal to 0.33 \(\times\) 10\({}^{-3}\) S/m at arch lengths equal to 15.69 and 47.2 \(\upmu\)m, corresponding to \(\theta\) equal to 90\({}^{\circ}\) and 270\({}^{\circ}\), i.e., at cell poles. The variation in the conductivity along the cell arc indicated that the portion of the membrane corresponding to \(\theta\) rising from 53\({}^{\circ}\) to 127\({}^{\circ}\) and from 233\({}^{\circ}\) to 307\({}^{\circ}\) was interested by pores opening. In all the remaining conditions, no pore opening was observed. Figure 5: Time evolution of the transmembrane voltage \(V_{m}\) (first column, (**a**,**d**,**g**,**j**)), pore density \(N\) (second column, (**b**,**e**,**h**,**k**)), and the variation in the conductivity along the cell membrane for t equal to 15 \(\upmu\)s (third column, (**c**,**f**,**i**,**l**)) at distance \(d_{2}\) from the coil, when the amplitude of the external applied electric field was equal to \(E^{99\text{th}}_{\text{AllB\o}\text{ox}}\)\(E^{99\text{th}}_{\text{MAX}}\), and \(E^{99\text{th}}_{\text{MIN}}\), when no Au NP was considered (first row, (**a**–**c**)), and for the spherical, cubic, and cluster Au NP configurations (second row, (**d**–**f**), third row, (**g**–**i**), and fourth row, (**j**–**l**), respectively).