Cold atmospheric plasma discharged in water and its potential use in cancer therapy

Abstract

Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) has been emerged as a novel technology for\ncancer treatment. CAP can directly treat cells and tissue but such direct\napplication is limited to skin or can be invoked as a supplement during open\nsurgery. In this study we report indirect plasma treatment using CAP discharged\nin DI water using three gases as carriers (argon, helium and nitrogen). Plasma\nstimulated water was applied to human breast cancer cell line (MDA-MB-231). MTT\nassay tests showed that using argon plasma had the strongest effect on inducing\napoptosis in cultured human breast cancer cells. This result is attributed to\nthe elevated production of the reactive oxygen species and reactive nitrogen\nspecies in water in the case of argon plasma.\n