10.57647/jtap.2026.2005.07

Cytotoxicity of Liquid Food Decontaminated by Spark Plasma

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  • Nasrin Navab Safa1,
  • Alireza Maroofi2,
  • Somaieh Kazemnejad3,
  • Maryam Darzi3,
  • Hamid Ghomi*2,
  1. Department of Physics, CT.C, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
  2. Laser and Plasma Research Institute, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
  3. Nanobiotechnology Research Center, Department of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, Avicenna Research Institute, Academic Center for Education, Culture and Research (ACECR), Tehran, Iran

Received: 2026-02-07

Revised: 2026-04-09

Accepted: 2026-05-18

Published in Issue 2026-10-31

Copyright (c) 2026 Nasrin Navab Safa, Alireza Maroofi, Somaieh Kazemnejad, Maryam Darzi, Hamid Ghomi (Author)

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

1.
Safa NN, Maroofi A, Kazemnejad S, Darzi M, Ghomi H. Cytotoxicity of Liquid Food Decontaminated by Spark Plasma. J Theor Appl phys. 2026 Oct. 31;20(5). Available from: https://oiccpress.com/jtap/article/view/19499
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Abstract

In the current study, the applicability of spark discharge for the decontamination of liquid food is investigated. While spark discharge has shown significant potential for liquid decontamination, food safety remains a primary concern for the adoption of any new method in food processing. In this work, the probable toxicity of the distillate following the spark plasma treatment was evaluated using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. MTT assay results for HepG2 cells showed no remarkable difference in cell viability between plasma-treated and untreated distillate. However, for Vero cells, a significant difference in cell viability was observed after 24 hours(h) of incubation. Aside from the group with an N(20)/D(80) culture media-to-distillate ratio, no significant differences in MTT assay results were observed after 48 hours of incubation. The discrepancy in cell viability observed in this specific group raises concerns regarding the method's suitability. Furthermore, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) results indicate that the concentration of certain trace essential elements, such as tungsten, increases in the distillate after treatment, exceeding the permissible limits for drinking water quality. Although spark discharge demonstrates significant bactericidal efficacy, its application for liquid food decontamination poses unacceptable safety risks.

Keywords

  • Pulsed discharge plasma,
  • Cytotoxicity assessment,
  • Elemental chemical analysis,
  • MTT assay,
  • ICP-MS
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