Speaker
Description
A novel treatment for chronic wounds is cold atmospheric plasma. Non-equilibrium plasmas generate highly reactive species at low temperatures. This allows treatment of human tissue in-vivo and can induce locally confined redox-chemistry in biological organisms. Reactive oxygen and nitrogen species are known to play a vital role in cell signaling and influence a range of mechanisms implicated in all phases of wound healing—inflammation, vascular formation, proliferation, remodeling of scar tissue [1]. Plasma gives us a tool for controlling and modulating dosage of the redox species cocktail deposited on the wound bed—by modifying plasma environment and the mixture in the feed gas [2]. By better understanding the effect of reactive species on cells, we can tailor the plasma reactivity to supply the adapted treatment to the tissue. A special focus is put on fibrosis, a form of disrupted wound healing. Reactive species have dual functions depending on the healing phase, their concentrations, etc. This is why a good characterisation of the plasma composition is essential. Plasma composition was simplified to the hypothesis of 2 regimes which could have dual effects on fibrosis—oxygen regime vs nitrogen regime. Reactive oxygen species are known to be pro-inflammatory by increasing the oxidative stress in the environment of the cells, and reactive nitrogen species have anti-inflammatory behavior [3]. Spectroscopy techniques are used to measure key species density in the plasma, informing us on which regime is at play e.g., UV-absorption spectroscopy at 254nm is used for quantifying ozone. Biological experiments are conducted with each regime, analyzing cell behavior as a response to modulated plasma treatment. Tailoring the plasma reactivity to biological needs, to reach a bio-chemical effect on imbalanced healing environment in tissue models will deepen our comprehension on the physiology of chronic wounds. It will also pave the way to a personalized plasma treatment technology greatly beneficing the health sector.
[1] Dubey, S. K., Parab, S., Alexander, A., Agrawal, M., Achalla, V. P. K., Pal, U. N., Pandey, M. M., & Kesharwani, P. (2022). Cold atmospheric plasma therapy in wound healing. Process Biochemistry, 112, 112-123.
[2] Schmidt, B., A., Bansemer, R., Reuter, S., & Weltmann, K.-D. (2016). How to produce an NOx- instead of Ox-based chemistry with a cold atmospheric plasma jet. Plasma Processes and Polymers, 13(11), 1120-1127.
[3] Feibel, D., Golda, J., Held, J., Awakowicz, P., Schulz-von der Gathen, V., Suschek, C. V., Opländer, C., & Jansen, F. (2023). Gas Flow-Dependent Modification of Plasma Chemistry in µAPP Jet-Generated Cold Atmospheric Plasma and Its Impact on Human Skin Fibroblasts. Biomedicines, 11(5).
| Keyword-1 | Plasma Medicine |
|---|---|
| Keyword-2 | Atmospheric Pressure Plasma |
| Keyword-3 | Fibrosis |
