Inhibitory Effect of Atmospheric Pressure Plasma on GH3 Pituitary Adenoma Cell Line and Primary Pituitary Tumor Cells From Patients

Although atmospheric pressure plasma (APP) treatment has exhibited promising antitumor efficacy across various cancer types, no studies have analyzed the effects of APP on pituitary adenoma (PA). In this study, APP generation and treatment conditions were optimized and investigated. Four pituitary tumor cell lines (GH3, AtT-20, GT1-1, and MMQ) were used to assess the inhibitory effect of APP treatment and were compared with two glioblastoma (GBM) cell lines (U87MG and LN229) and a neuronal cell line (SH-SY5Y). Results showed that the APP treatment has a better inhibitory effect on pituitary tumor cells with minimal neurotoxicity. The best inhibitory effect was observed in GH3, which had an IC50 value of only 32.33 s. APP treatment elevated both intra- and extra-cellular reactive oxygen/nitrogen species (ROS/RNS) in GH3 cells, which induced significantly GH3 cell apoptosis. Noninvasive micro-test technology (NMT) experiment revealed substantial Ca²⁺ influx following APP treatment in GH3 cells. Moreover, validation on primary pituitary tumor cells from patients corroborated these findings. Overall, our results highlight that APP treatment exerts substantial antitumor effects on PA cells compared to GBM cell lines, suggesting its potential as a complementary therapy in clinical neurosurgical treatment of PA.