Non-thermal Plasma Suppresses Bacterial Colonization on Skin Wound and Promotes Wound Healing in Mice

• Published in: Journal of Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Medical sciences Vol. 31; no. 3; pp. 390 - 394
• Main Author: 俞莺 谭明 陈宏翔 吴志洪 许莉 李娟 曹经江 杨寅生 肖学敏 连昕 卢新培 涂亚庭
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Heidelberg Huazhong University of Science and Technology 01.06.2011
• Subjects: Administration, Topical; Animals; Anti-Bacterial Agents - administration & dosage; Bacteria; Bacterial Load; Biopsy; Colonies; Colonization; Colony-forming cells; Female; Inflammation; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Plasma Gases - administration & dosage; Skin; Skin Diseases, Bacterial - pathology; Skin Diseases, Bacterial - prevention & control; Spine; Wound Healing; Wound Infection - pathology; Wound Infection - prevention & control; Wounds and Injuries - microbiology; 伤口愈合; 创伤; 定植; 小鼠; 抑制细菌; 皮肤; 等离子体处理; 非热等离子体; wound healing; bacterial colonization; BalB/c mice; non-thermal plasma
• ISSN: 1672-0733; 1993-1352
• DOI: 10.1007/s11596-011-0387-2

The present study evaluated the effect of non-thermal plasma on skin wound healing in BalB/c mice.Two 6-mm wounds along the both sides of the spine were created on the back of each mouse（n=80） by using a punch biopsy.The mice were assigned randomly into two groups,with 40 animals in each group：a non-thermal plasma group in which the mice were treated with the non-thermal plasma;a control group in which the mice were left to heal naturally.Wound healing was evaluated on postoperative days（POD） 4,7,10 and 14（n=5 per group in each POD） by percentage of wound closure.The mice was euthanized on POD 1,4,7,10,14,21,28 and 35（n=1 in each POD）.The wounds were removed,routinely fixed,paraffin-embedded,sectioned and HE-stained.A modified scoring system was used to evaluate the wounds.The results showed that acute inflammation peaked on POD 4 in non-thermal plasma group,earlier than in control group in which acute inflammation reached a peak on POD 7,and the acute inflammation scores were much lower in non-thermal group than in control group on POD 7（P0.05）.The amount of granular tissue was greater on POD 4 and 7 in non-thermal group than in control group（P0.05）.The re-epithelialization score and the neovasularization score were increased significantly in non-thermal group when compared with control group on POD 7 and 10（P0.05 for all）.The count of bacterial colonies was 103 CFU/mL on POD 4 and 20 CFU/mL on POD 7,significantly lower than that in control group（109 CFU/mL on POD 4 and 1012 CFU/mL on the POD 7）（P0.05）.It was suggested that the non-thermal plasma facilitates the wound healing by suppressing bacterial colo-nization.