| AVS 64th International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Plasma Processing for Biomedical Applications Focus Topic | Tuesday Sessions |
| Session PB+BI+PS-TuM |
| Session: | Plasma Medicine |
| Presenter: | Ek Adhikari, University of Notre Dame |
| Authors: | E.R. Adhikari, University of Notre Dame V. Samara, University of Notre Dame S. Ptasinska, University of Notre Dame |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) sources have been explored for applications in industry and medicine. Since environmental conditions such as room temperature and humidity fluctuate, two identical APPJ sources operating at various places and time might perform differently. An APPJ operating in a controlled environment may be able to overcome that issue. Moreover, the interaction of plasma components (e.g., ions, electrons, UV light) with the air in the atmosphere generates the reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) in the plasma jet [1]. These reactive species can be controlled by adjusting a fraction of oxygen and water vapor in the plasma jet environment and the feed gas. To create a controlled environment for a plasma source, a helium APPJ source was operated in a cylindrical glass chamber with an ambient pressure and filled with pure nitrogen gas along with a fraction of oxygen and water vapor. This APPJ source was used to induce damage in aqueous DNA. The fraction of different types of damaged DNA such as single strand breaks (SSBs) and double strand breaks (DSBs), which were induced due to plasma irradiation, and undamaged DNA were quantified by using agarose gel electrophoresis. We observed that a moderate amount of oxygen and water vapor in the environment, as well as in the feed gas, increases the level of DNA damage.
1. K. Arjunan, V. Sharma, and S. Ptasinska, Int. J. Mol. Sci. 16, 2971 (2015).