Low-temperature plasma needle for

biomedical treatments
Michael A. Wilson, Timothy R. Brubaker, Andrea M. Mastro,
Michael M. Micci, Sven G. Biln, Sean D. Knecht

Outline
Breast
What

Cancer Statistics

is plasma?

Low-Temperature
What
DBD

Plasma

is a Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD)?

Implementation into our design

Experimental

Design

Results

and Conclusions

Further

Research

Breast Cancer Statistics

January 1, 2014 - 3.1 million women

have or had a history with breast
cancer

232,670 women were expected to

be diagnosed that year.

Median age: 61 years old

Average 5 year survival rate increased

from 75% (1975-1977) to 90% (20032009)

20-30% of those with diagnosed find out

that the cancer has become metastatic

Current cancer treatment options, such

as surgery and chemotherapy, have
limitations.

Source: American Cancer Society. Cancer Treatment and Survivorship Facts & Figures 20142015. Atlanta: American Cancer Society; 2014.

What is Plasma?

Plasma is an electrically neutral medium

of unbound positive and negative
particles

Coined in 1928 by Nobel Prize winner

Irving Langmuir

Not to be confused with human blood

plasma

Most common state of matter found in

the universe.

Two types of plasma

HTP: High-temperature (thermal)

LTP: Low-temperature (non-thermal)

LTP: Low-Temperature Plasma

Some benefits of Low-Temperature Plasma

Its

easier to work with compared to HTP

Many

applications within the medical community

LTP is generated due to thermal equilibrium of electron selfcollisions occurring faster than the equilibrium between electrons
and ions
This

leads to high electron temperatures but very low gas

temperatures

High-energy collisions of electrons with neutral particles create

reactive chemical species such as NO, O3, H2O2, OH etc.

What is a Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD)?

An electrical discharge
that occurs between
two electrodes (high
voltage and ground)
separated by a
dielectric barrier

Provides a wide range

of geometric
configurations

Planar

Cylindrical

Plasma jets generate

plasma in open air

Planar

Cylindrical

DBD Implementation

High Voltage Electrode: 2 needle

Grounding electrode is placed

approximately 1/8 from the syringe
tip

The syringe is sheathed with PEEK

(polyether ether ketone) plastic tubing

With the PEEK encasing the needle,

the total diameter of the needle
system is equivalent to a 16 gauge
syringe.

The electric field allows for the

formation of plasma because it
accelerates electrons.

This results in high energy collisions

with neutral particles that are already
flowing axially which creates the
reactive species

Syringe within
PEEK

Ground wire
wrapped around
syringe
Plasma Discharge

Experimental Design
Mass Flow
Controller

Gas Input

Voltage Input

Ground Wire

Optical Table

Results and Conclusions

Three
cell culture wells were exposed

to helium and three wells exposed to

plasma.

Two wells were exposed for 60 seconds

and four were exposed for 180 seconds.

Cell Death = Cells detaching from wells

Plasma exposed cultures had voids in

the cell culture that were 23 the
diameter of the voids in the heliumexposed cultures.

This indicates an additional mechanism

of cell destruction is active in the lowtemperature plasma beyond the kinetic
energy of the jet molecules.

Hypothesis: Reactive oxygen species

generated in the plasma plume are
responsible for the destructive effects
due to increased oxidative stress on the
cells.

Further Research

Further experimentation is planned to quantify the

concentration of reactive chemical species and evaluate
this hypothesis.

The generation of reactive oxygen species in the plasma

plume and the subsequent oxidative stress on the cells is
the proposed method of action.

We will determine why pure helium exposure results in cell

destruction.

Different gases will be used in future experiments as well

as longer exposure times.

Larger diameter wells and a greater volume of PBS will also

be used.