Cold atmospheric plasma jet-generated RONS and their selective effects on normal and carcinoma cells

• Published in: Scientific reports 2016-02, Vol.6 (1), p.20332-20332, Article 20332
• Main Authors: Kim, Sun Ja, Chung, T. H.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 631/80/82/23; 639/766/747; Apoptosis; Cancer; Cell interactions; Cell Line, Tumor; Cell Survival - drug effects; Free radicals; Helium; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Mitochondria; multidisciplinary; Neoplasms - metabolism; Nitric oxide; Nitrogen dioxide; Plasma; Plasma Gases - pharmacology; Reactive nitrogen species; Reactive Nitrogen Species - metabolism; Reactive oxygen species; Reactive Oxygen Species - metabolism; Science; Tumor cell lines; Voltage
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/srep20332

Cold atmospheric helium plasma jets were fabricated and utilized for plasma–cell interactions. The effect of operating parameters and jet design on the generation of specific reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) within cells and cellular response were investigated. It was found that plasma treatment induced the overproduction of RONS in various cancer cell lines selectively. The plasma under a relatively low applied voltage induced the detachment of cells, a reduction in cell viability and apoptosis, while the plasma under higher applied voltage led to cellular necrosis in our case. To determine whether plasma-induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation occurs through interfering with mitochondria-related cellular response, we examined the plasma effects on ROS generation in both parental A549 cells and A549 ρ 0 cells. It was observed that cancer cells were more susceptible to plasma-induced RONS (especially nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 − ) radicals) than normal cells and consequently, plasma induced apoptotic cell responses mainly in cancer cells.