Plasma inactivation of candida albicans by an atmospheric cold plasma brush composed of hollow fibers

• Published in: IEEE transactions on plasma science Vol. 40; no. 4; pp. 1098 - 1102
• Main Authors: Song, Y, Liu, D, Ji, L, Wang, W, Niu, J, Zhang, X
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.04.2012; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Atmospheric pressure; Atmospheric pressure plasma; biomedical application; Cavity resonators; Cells; Discharges; Educational institutions; Fiber optics; Fungi; glowlike discharge; Helium; optical emission spectroscopy (OES); Physics; plasma brush; Plasma physics; Plasmas; scanning electron microscope (SEM); sterilization; survival efficiency
• ISSN: 0093-3813; 1939-9375
• DOI: 10.1109/TPS.2012.2183622

It remains a challenge to generate the uniform and large-area cold plasma at atmospheric pressure. In this paper, we report a method to generate a reliable and homogeneous brush-shaped plasma plume running at atmospheric pressure. The plasma brush (110 mm in length and 10 mm in width) is mainly composed of well-aligned and hollow optical fibers. Current-voltage measurements indicate that the brush-shaped plasma plume consists of glowlike pulsed discharge with their pulsewidths of several microseconds. The generation of the He/O 2 glowlike discharge is further proved by the uniform distribution of O atoms along the transverse location of the plasma brush. This brush-shaped plasma plume is used for the application in the plasma inactivation of Candida albicans cells. About 97% of Candida albicans cells with a population of 10 5 spores are killed when exposed to the O 2 /He (volume ratio: 5/95) brush-shaped plasma plume for 150 s. Analysis indicates that plasma-activated species, such as O radicals, may play a crucial role in killing the resistant Candida albicans cells.