Tailored Power of an RF Plasma Jet With Admixture of Nitrogen or Oxygen and Its Effects on Human Immune Cells

Abstract

Parameter studies of plasma treatment are informative about the optimal use of this technology in biomedical applications such as the argon radio-frequency plasma jet kINPen. However, the interdependence of the plasma-dissipated power in relation to input current and feed gas modulation on the resulting biological consequences has not been studied so far. To this end, a parameter study is presented, and the effect on human immune cell viability was investigated across different input current power and argon with oxygen/nitrogen feed gas admixture settings. It was found that with both nitrogen and oxygen admixtures, a concentration-dependent change in plasma-dissipated power emerged, which converged at 27.5 and 26.5 mA, respectively. The extent of cytotoxicity in immune cells confirmed the relevance of these findings, which were in congruency with the plasma-dissipated powers identified. These findings underline the critical role and input parameter-dependent action of plasma sources for biomedical application.