Ablation of liver cancer cells in vitro by a plasma needle

A plasma needle using a dielectric barrier discharge reactor at atmospheric pressure with a funnel-shaped nozzle was developed. The preliminary characteristics of the plume and applications to the ablation of cultured human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) BEL-7402 cell line were presented. The effect of oxygen, which was injected into argon plasma afterglow region through a steel tube, was studied. The efficiency of argon-oxygen plasma depends sensitively on the oxygen concentration in argon plasma. Large differences between spectra in atmosphere and those in Dulbecco's modified eagle medium are found. It is found that ultraviolet rays, O, OH, and Ar radicals can reach the bottom of solution and act on HCC cells and there is an optimum input power to get the most radicals. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.