Comparison of Circuits for Generating Nonthermal Plasma to Treat Melanoma Cells

Nonthermal plasma has shown promising results as a treatment method for melanoma cancer cells. To generate the high voltage AC signal required to ionize helium, a resonance transformer is used. This work compares two circuits, a manual tuning circuit and an automatic tuning circuit, that have been developed to generate the frequency required to achieve resonance. The design and performance of each circuit are presented, and the electrical and plasma characteristics are compared. The utilization of both circuits in the treatment of two melanoma cell lines show statistically indistinguishable results in cell viability assays, as well as similar cell death morphological characteristics.