Enhanced transmembrane transport of reactive oxygen species by electroporation effect of plasma

Abstract

Recently, plasma has been proposed as a new efficient tool for various biological and medical applications. The function of plasma is mainly realized through two aspects: Electric field and reactive species. However, because the interactions between plasma and cells are quite complicated, the synergistic effect of electric field and reactive species has not been studied in depth. In this paper, the synergetic effects of electric field and transportation of reactive species on cells are investigated by a two‐dimensional finite element model. The exposure of cells to plasma results in the sufficiently high transmembrane voltage (1 V) and electroporation. When the electric field of plasma is less than 104 V/cm, the radius of nanopores generated by plasma increases with the electric field. The further increase of electric field to 105 V/cm does not cause a significant increase of nanopore radius, whereas the pore density increases by five times. The increase of discharge frequency significantly decreases the time needed to generate stable nanopores. The nanopores enhance the diffusion of H2O2 generated by plasma through the cell membrane significantly. Compared with the reality that H2O2 does not freely diffuse across cell membranes, the “generation and enhanced transportation” effect will further expand the application range of plasma medicine.

Disinfection of viruses with cold atmospheric‐pressure plasmas: Sources, mechanisms, and efficacy

“…This disruption facilitates the entry of highly active RONS into the interior of the virus, enhancing the effectiveness of plasma oxidation. [ 35 ]…”

“…By influencing their behavior, the electric field can enhance or guide the disinfection process. Yang et al [ 35 ] found that electroporation induced by the plasma field can promote the transmembrane transport of plasma RONS.…”

The Combination of Low-Temperature Plasma and Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F on Ameliorating Imiquimod-Induced Psoriasiform Dermatitis in Mice

“…The optical emission spectrum (OES) shown in Figure 4 indicated that the OES of atomic oxygen at O (3s 5 S-3p 5 P) 777 nm and O (3p 5 4p-3p 5 6s) 844 nm increased by about 40% as the O 2 ratio increased from 0 to 0.1% and decreased by 63.3% as the O 2 percentage increased from 0.1% to 1% [22,23]. Energetic electrons with electron energy >10 eV are needed to generate the excited atomic oxygen corresponding to the OES at 777 nm and 844 nm [22,[24][25][26]; therefore, the concentration of atomic oxygen in the ground state was much higher than that in the excited state [27,28]. For example, the absolutely calibrated TALIF measurement of atomic oxygen in the grounded state in the effluent of the similar argon plasma jet indicated that the atomic oxygen density was in the order of 10 15 /cm 3 , and that it decreased with the distance to the nozzle by up to an order of magnitude [29].…”

Plasma Scalpels: Devices, Diagnostics, and Applications

“…Simulations show that the discharge of the plasma scalpel in the water-vapor layer (50% H 2 O and 50% H 2 vapor mixture) generates a large number of reactive species, with H atoms being the most abundant (approximately 400 ppm), followed by O atoms (20 ppm) and OH (3–10 ppm). The rate constant of the OH radical extraction of H is about 5000 times faster than that of H atom and 500 times faster than that of the ground state oxygen atom [ 4 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 ]. The experimental spectral data show that a large number of hydroxyl radicals generated by the plasma scalpel [ 4 ] can achieve oxidative etching of tissue [ 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 ].…”