Varshaa Sellamuthu Ravichandran, Sreedevi Parathattil Rathan, Keerthana Vasanthakumar, Selvakumar Subramaniam, Suresh Kalidass
Cold Plasma Bio-Research Laboratory, Department of Physics, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu 641046, India.
Molecular Physiology Laboratory, Department of Biochemistry, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu 641046, India.
ACS Appl Bio Mater. 2025 Sep 15;8(9):7816-7829. doi: 10.1021/acsabm.5c00817. Epub 2025 Aug 19.
Plasma-activated solutions (PAS), a cocktail of ions and free radicals, have emerged as a therapeutic approach for cancer treatment in which reactive radicals in PAS have marked anticarcinogenic effects on cancer cells. In this context, the anticancer effects of plasma-activated water (PAW) generated using a microplasma device were evaluated with air, argon, and nitrogen as plasma-forming gases at treatment durations of 5-25 min (5 min intervals). Optical characterization revealed that air and nitrogen plasma harnessed nitrogen species, whereas argon and air plasma indicated OH and oxygen species. UV-vis spectra of PAW demonstrated a linear increase with the treatment time. Quantitative analysis showed an increase in OH concentration around 15 min, and further declined with treatment time due to its short half-life. Hydrogen peroxide (HO) was highest in argon > air > nitrogen (1667.6 > 794.9 > 627.8 μM) at 25 min plasma treatment. NO ions concentration increased with treatment time and was highest (250 ppm) in air and nitrogen PAW. The pH of PAW decreased, while total dissolved solids, electrical conductivity, and salt concentration increased with treatment time. Cytotoxicity of 100 and 200 μL PAW was studied in MDA-MB-231 human breast adenocarcinoma cells using MTT assay, incubated for 24 and 48 h. PAW treated for 25 min with argon and nitrogen caused 95% cell death, while air plasma exhibited 81% at 48 h. Confocal microscopic studies revealed substantial cell damage caused by PAW via cell shrinkage and disintegration, nuclear fragmentation, and accumulation of cell debris. This study explicates the cytotoxic potential of PAW and correlates the role of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) in cancer cell inhibition.
等离子体活化溶液（PAS）是一种离子和自由基的混合物，已成为一种癌症治疗方法，其中PAS中的活性自由基对癌细胞具有显著的抗癌作用。在此背景下，使用微等离子体装置产生的等离子体活化水（PAW），以空气、氩气和氮气作为等离子体形成气体，在5 - 25分钟（间隔5分钟）的处理时间下评估其抗癌效果。光学表征显示，空气和氮气等离子体利用了氮物种，而氩气和空气等离子体则显示出OH和氧物种。PAW的紫外可见光谱显示随着处理时间呈线性增加。定量分析表明，OH浓度在15分钟左右增加，由于其半衰期短，随后随着处理时间而下降。在25分钟的等离子体处理后，过氧化氢（HO）在氩气处理的PAW中含量最高，其次是空气处理的PAW和氮气处理的PAW（1667.6 > 794.9 > 627.8 μM）。NO离子浓度随着处理时间增加，在空气和氮气处理的PAW中最高（250 ppm）。PAW的pH值下降，而总溶解固体、电导率和盐浓度随着处理时间增加。使用MTT法在MDA - MB - 231人乳腺腺癌细胞中研究了100和200 μL PAW的细胞毒性，孵育24和48小时。用氩气和氮气处理25分钟的PAW导致95%的细胞死亡，而空气等离子体处理的PAW在48小时时导致81%的细胞死亡。共聚焦显微镜研究表明，PAW通过细胞收缩和崩解、核碎片化以及细胞碎片积累对细胞造成了严重损伤。本研究阐述了PAW的细胞毒性潜力，并关联了活性氧和氮物种（RONS）在抑制癌细胞中的作用。
