Role of Mitochondria and Lysosomes in the Selective Cytotoxicity of Cold Atmospheric Plasma on Retinoblastoma Cells

Retinoblastoma (RB) is a common malignancy in childhood, with an incidence of 1 per20,000 live births. Several approaches such as chemotherapy, laser, and radiotherapy have beenused for the treatment of RB. However, the effectiveness of these methods is not suffcient and themechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of the disease are not well understood. The disruptionof the apoptotic process is considered as one of the mechanisms involved in the pathogenesisof RB. This study was designed to examine the in-vitro selective toxicity of cold atmosphericplasma (CAP) on RB cells’ mitochondria and lysosomes. The results showed that CAP decreasedcell 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 ratocular cells. Furthermore, results demonstrated that CAP signifcantly increased ROS generation,mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) collapse, mitochondrial swelling, and cytochrome crelease only in cancerous rat ocular mitochondria but not the normal rat ocular mitochondria.Furthermore, our results demonstrated that CAP signifcantly increased the lysosomal damageonly in the cancer group. Altogether, the results of the study showed that CAP could selectivelyinduce apoptosis on RB mitochondria. CAP may therefore be considered as a promising candidatefor further in-vivo and clinical researches to reach a new anti- RB drug.