Search

Cold atmospheric argon plasma is recognized as a new contact free approach for the decrease of bacterial load on chronic wounds in patients. So far very limited data are available on its toxicity and mutagenicity on eukaryotic cells. Thus, the toxic/mutagenic potential of cold atmospheric argon plasma using the MicroPlaSter β ® , which has been used efficiently in humans treating chronic and acute wounds, was investigated using the XTT assay in keratinocytes and fibroblasts and the HGPRT (hypoxanthine guanine phosphoribosyl transferase) assay with V79 Chinese hamster cells. The tested clinical parameter of a 2 min cold atmospheric argon plasma treatment revealed no relevant toxicity on keratinocytes (viability: 76% ± 0.17%) and on fibroblasts (viability: 81.8 ± 0.10) after 72 hr as compared to the untreated controls. No mutagenicity was detected in the HGPRT assay with V79 cells even after repetitive CAP treatments of 2-10 min every 24 hr for up to 5 days. In contrast, UV-C irradiation of V79 cells, used as a positive control in the HGPRT test, led to DNA damage and mutagenic effects. Our findings indicate that cold atmospheric plasma using the MicroPlaSter β ® shows negligible effects on keratinocytes and fibroblasts but no mutagenic potential in the HGPRT assay, indicating a new contact free safe technology. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. 58:172-177, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., (© 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Cold atmospheric pressure plasmas represent a favorable option for the treatment of heat sensitive materials and human or animal tissue. Beneficial effects have been documented in a variety of medical conditions, e.g., in the treatment of chronic wounds. It is assumed that the main mechanism of the plasma's efficacy is mediated by a stimulating dissipation of energy via radiation and/or chemical energy. Although no evidence on undesired side effects of a plasma treatment has yet been presented, skepticism toward the safety of the exposure to plasma is present. However, only little data regarding the mutagenic potential of this new treatment option is available. Accordingly, we investigated the mutagenic potential of an argon plasma jet (kinpen) using different testing systems in accordance with ISO norms and multiple cell lines: a HPRT1 mutation assay, a micronucleus formation assay, and a colony formation assay. Moderate plasma treatment up to 180 s did not increase genotoxicity in any assay or cell type investigated. We conclude that treatment with the argon plasma jet kinpen did not display a mutagenic potential under the test conditions applied and may from this perspective be regarded as safe for the use in biomedical applications., (Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V.)