title: Effects of non-thermal plasma on mammalian cells.
abstract: Thermal plasmas and lasers have been widely used in medicine to cut, ablate and cauterize tissues through heating; in contrast, non-thermal plasma produces no heat, so its effects can be selective. In order to exploit the potential for clinical applications, including wound healing, sterilization, blood coagulation, and cancer treatment, a mechanistic understanding of the interaction of non-thermal plasma with living tissues is required. Using mammalian cells in culture, it is shown here that non-thermal plasma created by dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) has dose-dependent effects that range from increasing cell proliferation to inducing apoptosis. It is also shown that these effects are primarily due to formation of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS). We have utilized γ-H2AX to detect DNA damage induced by non-thermal plasma and found that it is initiated by production of active neutral species that most likely induce formation of organic peroxides in cell medium. Phosphorylation of H2AX following non-thermal plasma treatment is ATR dependent and ATM independent, suggesting that plasma treatment may lead to replication arrest or formation of single-stranded DNA breaks; however, plasma does not lead to formation of bulky adducts/thymine dimers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
authors.forename: Sameer
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kalghatgi
authors.forename: Crystal M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Kelly
authors.forename: Ekaterina
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cerchar
authors.forename: Behzad
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Torabi
authors.forename: Oleg
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Alekseev
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fridman
authors.forename: Gary
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Friedman
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Azizkhan-Clifford
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000528:radiation effects*; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000528:radiation effects*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004249:DNA Damage / Q000528:radiation effects; D004307:Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; D007834:Lasers; D008322:Mammals; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species