Synergistic Effects of Nanosecond Pulse D Plasmas and Electric Fields on Cells and Skins

Abstract

Cold atmospheric pressure plasmas produce reactive plasma species including charged particles and reactive oxygen nitrogen species, which are known to interact with living cells in liquid media or tissues, resulting in promising applications in cancer therapy, surface sterilization, and gene delivery. In the meantime, intense nanosecond electric fields induce selective disruption or poration in cell membrane and have been used in gene delivery and cancer treatment with highly promising results. This work discusses the synergetic effects of a nanosecond pulsed plasma jet and electric field on pancreatic cancer cells in vitro and mouse skins in vivo. The 250-µm-diameter, helium plasma jet was powered by 150-ns, 10 kV pulses at typ. 2 kHz. The most inactivation of the cancer cells was obtained when both plasma and pulses were applied. The highest gene expression in skin was also observed with the combination of plasmas and pulses. Plasma properties <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">1</sup> and hydroxyl radicals <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> in both gas and liquid phases are quantitatively measured to assess the potential plasma agents during the synergetic and plasma-alone treatments.