Applications of atmospheric pressure plasma in microbial inactivation and cancer therapy: a brief review

Atmospheric pressure cold plasma, with advantages such as high particle activity, no thermal damage, high efficiency and direct and friendly contact with human tissues, is considered to have great potential in biomedical applications. Therefore, ‘plasma medicine’ as a new interdiscipline has been developed in the past two decades. This review first briefly describes the development of typical plasma sources suitable for biomedical applications, and those with different discharge forms are simply compared, evaluated and summarized. Subsequently, measurement of the crucial gaseous reactive particles (e.g. OH and O) and their spatio-temporal distributions are introduced. Meanwhile, the generation and variation rules and the related critical macroscopic parameters of the plasma-induced aqueous reactive species are summarized. Finally, related studies in the last ten years on the mechanisms of the plasma-driven microbial inactivation and plasma-induced apoptosis of cancer cells are introduced. Moreover, some scientific problems that need to be urgently solved in the field of plasma medicine are also discussed. This review will provide useful guidance for future related research.     

Generation of reactive species in atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharge with liquid water

Atmospheric pressure helium/water dielectric barrier discharge(DBD) plasma is used to investigate the generation of reactive species in a gas–liquid interface and in a liquid. The emission intensity of the reactive species is measured by optical emission spectroscopy(OES)with different discharge powers at the gas–liquid interface. Spectrophotometry is used to analyze the reactive species induced by the plasma in the liquid. The concentration of OH radicals reaches 2.2 μm after 3 min of discharge treatment. In addition, the concentration of primary longlived reactive species such as H_2O_2, NO_3~- and O_3 are measured based on plasma treatment time.After 5 min of discharge treatment, the concentration of H_2O_2, NO_3~-, and O_3 increased from 0 mg?·?L~(-1) to 96 mg?·?L~(-1), 19.5 mg?·?L~(-1), and 3.5 mg?·?L~(-1), respectively. The water treated by plasma still contained a considerable concentration of reactive species after 6 h of storage. The results will contribute to optimizing the DBD plasma system for biological decontamination.     

介质阻挡放电等离子体降解红霉素影响因素研究

抗生素属于难降解物质,普通的物理化学方法不能有效去除。利用介质阻挡放电等离子体(DBD)降解红霉素(ETM),考察ETM初始质量浓度、放电功率、液体流速、空气流量对降解率的影响以及降解过程中TOC的变化。结果表明:放电功率为80 W、初始p H为8、液体流速为50 L/h,空气流量为60 L/h时,处理0.5 mg/L ETM溶液60 min后COD去除率为63.99%,60 min后TOC变化趋于平稳。     

Degradation and mineralization of ciprofloxacin by gas–liquid discharge non-thermal plasma

A typical quinolones antibiotic ciprofloxacin(CIP) in aqueous solution was degraded by a gas–liquid discharge non-thermal plasma system. The discharge plasma power and the emission intensity of the excited reactive species(RS) generated in the gas phase were detected by the oscilloscope and the optical emission spectroscopy. The effects of various parameters on CIP degradation, i.e. input powers, initial concentrations addition of radical scavengers and p H values were investigated. With the increase of discharge power, the degradation efficiency increased but the energy efficiency significantly reduced. The degradation efficiency also reduced under high concentration of initial CIP conditions due to the competitive reactions between the plasma-induced RS with the degradation intermediates of CIP. Different radical scavengers(isopropanol and CCl_4) on ·OH and H· were added into the reaction system and the oxidation effects of ·OH radicals have been proved with high degradation capacity on CIP.Moreover, the long-term degradation effect on CIP in the plasma-treated aqueous solution proved that the long-lived RS(H_2O_2 and O_3, etc) might play key roles on the stay effect through multiple aqueous reactions leading to production of ·OH. The degradation intermediates were determined by the method of electrospray ionization(+)-mass spectroscopy, and the possible degradation mechanism were presented.     

生态产品价值实现的地方路径探索研究——以安徽省旌德县为例

旌德县生态环境良好，有丰富的林业资源。本文以旌德县为例，总结其在开展生态产品价值实现工作中的经验，并分析目前存在的典型问题，提出相关建议，以期为类似县域开展生态产品价值实现工作提供思路和借鉴。     

Control of multidrug-resistant planktonic Acinetobacter baumannii: biocidal efficacy study by atmospheric-pressure air plasma

In this research,an atmospheric-pressure air plasma is used to inactivate the multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii in liquid.The efficacy of the air plasma on bacterial deactivation and the cytobiological variations after the plasma treatment are investigated.According to colony forming units,nearly all the bacteria (6-log) are inactivated after 10 min of air plasma treatment.However,7％ of the bacteria enter a viable but non-culturable state detected by the resazurin based assay during the same period of plasma exposure.Meanwhile,86％ of the bacteria lose their membrane integrity in the light of SYTO 9/PI staining assay.The morphological changes in the cells are examined by scanning electron microscopy and bacteria with morphological changes are rare after plasma exposure in the liquid.The concentrations of the long-living RS,such as H2O2,NO3,and O3,in liquid induced by plasma treatment are measured,and they increase with plasma treatment time.The changes of the intracellular ROS may be related to cell death,which may be attributed to oxidative stress and other damage effects induced by RS plasma generated in liquid.The rapid and effective bacteria inactivation may stem from the RS in the liquid generated by plasma and air plasmas may become a valuable therapy in the treatment of infected wounds.