Cold atmospheric pressure plasma (CAPP) treatment is a highly effective method of protecting seeds, plants, flowers, and trees from diseases and infection and significantly increasing crop yields. Here we found that cold atmospheric pressure He-plasma jet (CAPPJ) can also cause side effects and damage to plants if the plasma exposure time is too long. Reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS), electromagnetic fields, and ultraviolet photons emitted by CAPPJ can cause both positive and negative effects on plants. CAPPJ can interact with biological tissue surfaces. The plasma lamp has no visible side effects on Aloe vera plants, cabbage, and tomatoes. A plasma lamp and a cold atmospheric pressure plasma He-jet cause strong electrical signaling in plants with a very high amplitude with frequencies equal to the frequency of plasma generation. The use of plasma lamps for electrostimulation of biological tissues can help to avoid side processes in biological tissues associated with the generation of RONS, UV photons, and direct interaction with cold plasma. CAPP technology can play an important role in agriculture, medicine, the food industry, chemistry, surface science, material science, and engineering applications without side effects if the plasma exposure is short enough.
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Redox Reactions of Biologically Active Molecules upon Cold Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Treatment of Aqueous Solutions
Cold atmospheric pressure plasma (CAPP) is widely used in medicine for the treatment of diseases and disinfection of bio-tissues due to its antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal properties. In agriculture, CAPP accelerates the imbibition and germination of seeds and significantly increases plant productivity. Plasma is also used to fix molecular nitrogen. CAPP can produce reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS). Plasma treatment of bio-tissue can lead to numerous side effects such as lipid peroxidation, genotoxic problems, and DNA damage. The mechanisms of occurring side effects when treating various organisms with cold plasma are unknown since RONS, UV-Vis light, and multicomponent biological tissues are simultaneously involved in a heterogeneous environment. Here, we found that CAPP can induce in vitro oxidation of the most common water-soluble redox compounds in living cells such as NADH, NADPH, and vitamin C at interfaces between air, CAPP, and water. CAPP is not capable of reducing NAD+ and 1,4-benzoquinone, despite the presence of free electrons in CAPP. Prolonged plasma treatment of aqueous solutions of vitamin C, 1,4-hydroquinone, and 1,4-benzoquinone respectively, leads to their decomposition. Studies of the mechanisms in plasma-induced processes can help to prevent side effects in medicine, agriculture, and food disinfection.
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- PAR ID:
- 10391869
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Molecules
- Volume:
- 27
- Issue:
- 20
- ISSN:
- 1420-3049
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 7051
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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