Mimicking of Human Body Electrical Characteristic for Easier Translation of Plasma Biomedical Studies to Clinical Applications

• Published in: IEEE transactions on radiation and plasma medical sciences Vol. 4; no. 3; pp. 335 - 342
• Main Authors: Stancampiano, A., Chung, T.-H., Dozias, S., Pouvesle, J.-M., Mir, L. M., Robert, E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Piscataway IEEE 01.05.2020; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE); Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• Subjects: Animal models; Atmospheric pressure plasma; Biological system modeling; Biomedical materials; Biotechnology; Cancer; Cell culture; Circuits; compensation circuit; Conductivity; Electric contacts; Electric potential; Electrical measurement; Electrical resistivity; Emission analysis; Emission measurements; Emission spectroscopy; Engineering Sciences; Health services; Human body; In vitro; In vivo; In vivo methods and tests; Life Sciences; Liquids; Mathematical models; Mimicry; Optical emission spectroscopy; Plasma; plasma medicine; Plasmas; potential; Process parameters; Spectroscopy; targets; Therapeutic applications; Translation; atmospheric pressure plasma; plasma medicine; potential; targets; compensation circuit
• ISSN: 2469-7311; 2469-7303
• DOI: 10.1109/TRPMS.2019.2936667

Nonthermal plasma (NTP) medical applications are now well established but the translation from in vitro plasma effects to in vivo effects remains far from being intuitive. Among various possible reasons, the translation may be disturbed by a loose control over the electrical characteristics of the different targets (e.g., cell culture dish, animal models) met during the development process, a parameter generally neglected and often unmentioned in papers. The aim of this article is to raise consciousness on how target electrical parameters (e.g., conductivity, electric potential <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">\dots </tex-math></inline-formula>) play a major role in determining plasma treatment conditions. This effect is of particular relevance in plasma medicine where we move from treating small in vitro samples to humans, passing by animal models. The plasma conditions on targets with different electrical characteristics are compared by means of electrical measurements, optical emission spectroscopy, and basic liquid analysis. Commonly tested in vitro targets induce the generation of a plasma significantly different from that produced in contact with a human body. We demonstrate how by means of a basic and easy to implement electrical circuit it is possible to "compensate" the electrical differences between in vitro models, mice and human body and in such a way to reach more reproducible treatment conditions between in vitro and in vivo targets. The proposed method for the control of the target electrical parameters could greatly favor the transition from in vitro and in vivo models to patients for many plasma devices developed for biomedical applications.