Wound healing plasma
Cold plasma will save people from unhealed wounds forever
Russian scientists from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), the Joint Institute of High Temperatures of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the N. F. Gamalei Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology found that irradiation of cells with cold plasma leads to their regeneration and "rejuvenation". This result, the researchers believe, can be used in the development of a course of plasma therapy for non-healing wounds.
Non–healing wounds are a real problem for doctors, as they complicate any even the most successful treatment. For example, in diabetes mellitus, wounds occur due to blood vessels damaged by the disease, in oncology and HIV - due to suppressed immunity, and in old age the cause is a low rate of cell division. The treatment of such wounds by conventional methods is very problematic, and sometimes simply impossible.
It turned out that cold plasma of atmospheric pressure can solve the problem. It is a partially ionized gas (the proportion of charged particles in the gas is about 1%) with a temperature below 100 thousand kelvin. Its application in the field of biology and medicine has become possible since the advent of generators producing plasma at a temperature of 30-40 ° C.
Low–temperature plasma generator: A: 1 – gas flow, 2 – microwave electrode, 3 – plasma jet, 4 – power supply, 5 – grounding; B: 6 – metal housing, 7 - power supply, 8 – plasma jet. Images: MIPT Press Service
Previously, scientists have already identified the bactericidal properties of low-temperature plasma and the relatively high resistance of cells and tissues to its effects. At the same time, the results of plasma treatment of non-healing human wounds varied from positive to neutral. Based on the results of previous work, the idea arose that the process of wound healing using plasma depends on the method of cell treatment (the interval between irradiations and the total number of irradiations).
The objects of research in this work were fibroblasts (connective tissue cells) and keratinocytes (epithelial tissue cells). These are the main types of cells involved in the wound process.
The scientists noticed that plasma irradiation did not go without results: in the samples of fibroblasts treated once (A) and twice (B), the number of cells increased by 42.6% and 32.0%, respectively, compared with the control group of cells not exposed to radiation.
For group C cells (daily treatment for three days), cell proliferation (division) decreased by 29.1% compared to the control group. Differences in the rate of proliferation were also found in keratinocytes, but they turned out to be insignificant.
In addition, Russian scientists have not found any signs of DNA breaks immediately after plasma treatment. At the same time, the accumulation of cells in the active phases of the cell cycle and the extension of the growth phase up to 30 hours were observed. That is, the effect of plasma was regenerative, not destructive.
The scientists then measured the level of aging-associated β-galactosidase, which is considered one of the markers of aging. With age, the concentration of this enzyme in the cell increases. After plasma treatment, the level of this substance was significantly reduced, which, together with the prolongation of the growth phase, may mean that the cells are actually rejuvenated.
"The positive data observed by us after plasma treatment may be associated with the activation of the mechanism of autophagy of cells. It leads to the fact that damaged organelles are removed from the cell, which ultimately restarts metabolic processes in the cell," says Elena Petersen, co–author of the study and head of the Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Technologies at MIPT.
In the future, the authors plan to conduct additional studies to understand the molecular mechanisms of plasma action on cells, as well as to study the effectiveness of such treatment taking into account the patient's age.
The work of Russian scientists is published in the Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics (Sysolyatina et al., Frequency of cell treatment with cold microwave argon plasma is important for the final outcome).
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13.09.2016