Document Type: Research article
Authors
1
Department of Atomic/Molecular Physics, Faculty of Physics, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran.
2
Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
3
Nanomedicine and Tissue Engineering Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
4
Department of Occupational Health and Safety Engineering, School of Health, Alborz University of Medical Sciences, Karaj, Iran.
5
Research Center for Health, Safety and Environment, Alborz University of Medical Sciences, Karaj, Iran.
Abstract
Retinoblastoma (RB) is a common malignancy in childhood, with an incidence of 1 per
20,000 live births. Several approaches such as chemotherapy, laser, and radiotherapy have been
used for the treatment of RB. However, the effectiveness of these methods is not suffcient and the
mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of the disease are not well understood. The disruption
of the apoptotic process is considered as one of the mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis
of RB. This study was designed to examine the in-vitro selective toxicity of cold atmospheric
plasma (CAP) on RB cells’ mitochondria and lysosomes. The results showed that CAP decreased
cell viability and GSH content and also increased caspase-3 activity and lipid peroxidation
(LPO) in cancerous ocular cells isolated from the rat model of RB compared to the normal rat
ocular cells. Furthermore, results demonstrated that CAP signifcantly increased ROS generation,
mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) collapse, mitochondrial swelling, and cytochrome c
release only in cancerous rat ocular mitochondria but not the normal rat ocular mitochondria.
Furthermore, our results demonstrated that CAP signifcantly increased the lysosomal damage
only in the cancer group. Altogether, the results of the study showed that CAP could selectively
induce apoptosis on RB mitochondria. CAP may therefore be considered as a promising candidate
for further in-vivo and clinical researches to reach a new anti- RB drug.
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