Using fluorescence to measure hydrogen peroxide concentrations in plasma activated media

Recently several investigators have shown that plasma activated media (PAM) is as effective in killing cancer cells as direct plasma treatment of the cells [1], [2]. Low temperature plasma (LTP) generated in oxygen or air containing environments produces various chemically reactive species such as OH and O. These species have very short lifetimes and do not penetrate deep in liquid media. However, they can interact with the liquid to generate relatively stable long lived species inside the volume of the liquid. One such reactive species is hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂). Hydrogen peroxide is known to cause various oxidizing reactions in biological cells, including the peroxidation of lipids and DNA damage. Knowing how much H₂O₂ is generated when liquid biological media is exposed to LTP is therefore of great interest.