Destruction of Melanoma Cells by Cold Atmospheric Plasma in the Presence of Gold Nanoparticles

Melanoma is one of the deadliest skin cancers because the effectiveness of common treatments is not impressive. Cold atmospheric plasma is considered a new solution in cancer treatment. This study was conducted with the aim of investigating the synergistic effect of cold plasma in the presence of gold nanoparticles on melanoma cell lines.

In this study, helium based cold plasma in the presence of gold nanoparticles were used to treat melanoma cells. In this respect, after the synthesis of gold nanoparticles, their physicochemical properties were investigated. Then incubation time of gold nanoparticles was determined and the optimal concentration was determined after 24 hours of incubation using MTT test. Finally, cells were exposed to cold plasma radiation with and without gold nanoparticles at different times of 30, 60 and 90 s. The survival percentage of cells was evaluated 48 hours after cold plasma treatment.

Cold plasma treatment produces time-dependent toxic effects. The viability of cells treated with cold plasma in the presence of gold nanoparticles was significantly reduced compared to untreated cells. The greatest reduction in viability was observed in the 90 s cold plasma and 20 mg/mL concentration gold nanoparticle treatment groups.

This study approved anti-cancer effect of cold plasma on melanoma cells. In addition, it also showed that gold nanoparticles create a synergistic effect in plasma treatment.