Effect of Cold Atmospheric Pressure Plasma and Gold Nanoparticles on Cell Viability

Aims: Cell culture can be used to study of cell proliferation, viability and apoptosis. Purposeful treatment by cold atmospheric plasma is a new approach in cell culture system. Plasma is an ionized gas that has reactive and energetic particles and can be produced by different methods in the laboratory. Nanoparticles have many applications in biology and medicine. In this study we investigated about plasma jet and gold nanoparticle synergy on L929 fibroblast cells viability.
Study Design: The plasma jet consists of a pyrex nozzle tube as an insulating shield (ID=2 mm and OD=4mm). The power supply produces 10 KV high voltage pulses with a frequency of 6 kHz and 30 microsecond pulse width.
Place and Duration of Study: Biotechnology engineering Center, Department of biology, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University between June 2012 and May 2013.
Methodology: In this study, the plasma jet was employed. Gold nanoparticles produced through Strohoff methods; size and charges were measured by zetasizer. Cell cytotoxicity and cell viability was shown by MTT assay.
Results: The results showed that the cell proliferation has been increased by using of cold atmospheric plasma and gold nanoparticles. Gold nanoparticles and cold plasma alone did not have effect on L929 cells proliferation.
Conclusion: It seems that the cell viability has been enhanced by synergistic combination of nanotechnology and plasma technology in cell culture systems.