Cold atmospheric plasma activated deionized water using helium, argon, and nitrogen as feeding gas for cancer therapy

Plasma activated medium, containing reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS), has been used for cancer treatment as an indirect treatment method. Here we report cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) activated deionized (DI) water using helium (He), argon (Ar), and nitrogen (N2) as feeding gas for the cancer therapy. Basic characteristics of CAP activated DI water with different feeding gases were diagnosed and the effects of three solutions on the breast cancer cells and gastric cancer cells were also recorded. Our findings show that DI water treated by CAP with He feeding gas has a much stronger effect on apoptosis in precultured breast cancer cells and gastric cancer cells. These results are attributed to the higher concentration of ROS generated in CAP-activated DI water using He as feeding gas.