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Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP), an ionized gas operated at near-ambient temperatures, has been introduced as a new therapeutic opportunity for treating cancers. The effectiveness of the therapy has been linked to CAP-generated reactive oxygen and nitrogen species such as hydrogen peroxide and nitrite. In this study, we monitor in real-time cancer cell response to CAP over the course of 48 h. The results demonstrate a correlation between cell viability, exposure time (30, 60, 90, and 180 s), and discharge voltage (3.16 and 3.71 kV), while stressing the likely therapeutic role of plasma-generated reactive species. A 30–60 s increase in CAP exposure time and/or a discharge voltage adjustment from 3.16 to 3.71 kV is consistently accompanied by a significant reduction in cell viability. Comparably, levels of hydrogen peroxide and nitrite vary as a function of voltage with elevated levels detected at the highest tested voltage condition of 3.71 kV. CAP ultimately initiates a reduction in cell viability and triggers apoptosis via damage to the mitochondrial membrane, while also deregulating protein synthesis. The findings presented in this study are discussed in the context of facilitating the development of an adaptive CAP platform which could improve treatment outcomes.

NCT01537289 (http://clinicaltrials.gov).

In recent years, DNA has been widely noted as a kind of material that can be used to construct building blocks in biosensing, in vivo imaging, drug development, and disease...

Ordered, hexagonal, mesoporous metal (Ti, Zr, V, Al)-phosphonate materials with microporous crystalline walls are synthesized through a microwave-assisted procedure by using triblock copolymer F127 as the template. Corresponding metal chlorides and ethylene diamine tetra(methylene phosphonic acid) are chosen as the inorganic precursors and the coupling molecule, respectively. X-ray diffractometry, transmission electron microscopy, N(2) sorption, and thermogravimetry measurements confirm that the obtained metal phosphonates possess a hierarchically porous structure with pore sizes of 7.1-7.5 nm and 1.3-1.7 nm for mesopores and micropores, respectively, and the metal phosphonate materials are thermally stable up to around 450 °C with the pore structure and hybrid framework well preserved. Magic angle spinning NMR, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analyses indicate that the phosphonate groups are homogenously incorporated into the hybrid framework of the obtained materials. For the first time, the mesoporous hybrid materials are employed as the stationary phase in open tubular capillary electrochromatography technique for the separation of various substances including acidic, basic, and neutral compounds. These materials show good selectivity and reproducibility for this application.

Therapeutic study, level V.

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