Russian scientists from Moscow Institute of physics and technology (MIPT), joint Institute for high temperatures RAS and Scientific research Institute of epidemiology and Microbiology them. N. F. Gamalei found that the irradiation of cells by cold plasma leads to their regeneration and rejuvenation. This result can be used in the development of the course of plasma treatment of non-healing wounds.
Non-healing wounds result from damage to the blood vessels or disorders of the immune mechanisms, with serious diseases such as diabetes, HIV and cancer. Elderly people often have age-related problems with the regeneration of damaged tissues. Conventional methods such wounds are treated very turdno, and sometimes do not respond to treatment. Now on arms of doctors will stand cold atmospheric pressure plasma — a partially ionized gas with a temperature below 100 000 K. In modern generators, it is obtained in quite earthly temperatures from 30 to 40 °C.
Low-temperature plasma kills microorganisms, but almost does not harm the healthy tissues and organs. In testing participated fibroblasts (connective tissue cells) and skin cells. Scientists have found that the greatest effect is the single treatment of the partially ionized gas: after it was vosstanavlivaet 30-40% more cells than in the control group.
Scientists drew attention to the level of β galactosidase (an enzyme associated with the aging process), which is measured at pH 6.0 and is considered one of the markers of aging. With age, the concentration of this enzyme in the cell increases. After treatment, plasma levels of this substance was greatly reduced, which together with the extension of the exponential growth phase of the studied culture may indicate functional activation of the cells, in other words, their rejuvenation.
“Positive data, we observed after plasma treatment, may be associated with the activation of the mechanism of autophagy of cells, which leads to the fact that cells removed from damaged organelles, which ultimately restarts the metabolic processes in the cell,” Elena says Petersen, research associate and head of the Laboratory of cellular and molecular technologies of MIPT.
In the future, the authors plan to conduct additional studies to understand the molecular mechanism of action of plasma on the cells, and to study the effectiveness of treatment based on age
The paper was published in the journal Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics.
