Stimulating living cells with air DBD plasma

Cells positioned at the bottom of a Petri dish were exposed, in a home-made plasma source, to pulsed Dielectric Barrier Discharges operated in air in order to investigate the effect of the plasma species on their viability and growth. Processes with different number of pulse, respectively 1,3,9 and 27 pulse, were performed to study the influence on viability and cell growth of two different cell lines, Saos 2 and NHDF. Atmospheric air discharges applied on the two selected cell lines have shown an effect strongly dependent on cell type. At certain doses we have measured increased activity of the NHDF fibroblasts cell line. On the other side, an inhibition of cell adhesion and growth on the Saos 2 osteoblastoma cell line, directly dependent on the plasma doses, was clear. This study shows that by properly tuning the dose of exposure of cells to air plasma it is possible to induce both positive and negative effects on cell growth, that would be useful in several branches of Medicine. © 2012 Materials Research Society.