Modelling Synergistic Effects of Cold Atmospheric Plasma and Pulsed Electric Field Treatments in Pore Creation

Abstract

Cold atmospheric pressure plasmas (CAPPs) 1 and electric pulses (EPs) 2 are effective techniques for sterilization, wound treatment, and cancer treatment, whose synergistic effects have only recently been studied 3. While these experiments demonstrated this synergy for different combinations of EPs and CAPPs, the physical phenomena that drive this behavior remain poorly understood. To elucidate these results, we combine models of EP interactions with the cell membrane to model pore formation and ion transport 4 with a model of CAPP generation by a plasma jet 5. The EP/membrane simulation couples the asymptotic Smoluchowski equation for pore formation and the Nernst-Planck equation for ion motion 4. The CAPP model uses coupled sets of governing equations for charged and neutral species continuity, electron energy transport, and self-consistent electrostatic potential 5. We report the results of each model individually and then couple the two models. The membrane voltage induced by the CAPP induced ion buildup at the membrane couples with the EP induced membrane voltage to form membrane pores. The motion of the charged particles from the CAPP model couples with the force from the Nernst-Planck model in the EP model to describe the resulting charged particle motion. We will report the impact of different CAPP and EP parameters and treatment orders on efficacy.