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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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tries to focus on pertinent issues in health care and analyses how cold atmospheric plasmas can contribute towards the long-standing problems identified. It starts quite generally by looking at the major elements that make up our current health care system, the aims that govern these and the corresponding requirements on health care products. It then proceeds to identify areas where current research promises contributions from the new cold plasma technologies. It turns out that there are indeed many areas where investments in plasma health care could pay off, both in terms of cost and in reduction of human suffering (© 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent tremendous progress in understanding physical plasma phenomenon, together with the development of new plasma sources has put growing focus on the application of plasmas in health care. Active plasma components, such as molecules, atoms, ions, electrons and photons, reactive species, ultraviolet radiation, optical and infrared emission and heat have the ability of activating, controlling and catalysing reactions and complex biochemical procedures. Thermal and non-thermal (i.e. cold) plasmas - both already widely established in medicine - are used for various therapeutic applications. Particularly in dermatology, plasma applications hold big potential, for example, in wound healing, such as efficient disinfection or sterilization, therapy of various skin infections or tissue regeneration. This review gives an overview on potential plasma applications in medicine - including the recent research on skin diseases - and summarizes possible interactions between plasmas and living tissue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To look into new potential indications for physical plasma and because some reports suggest plasma having antipruritic effects, we investigated the treatment of pruritus that often represents a therapeutic challenge., Objectives: To assess the efficacy and safety of cold atmospheric argon plasma as add-on-therapy in pruritic diseases., Methods: We treated 46 patients with various pruritic diseases with cold plasma for 2 min daily in addition to standard treatment. All patients served as their own control, when their pruritic disease was treated with argon gas (placebo). The outcome measure was a long-term and short-term reduction in itching measured by means of a visual analogue score (VAS)., Results: The VAS scores at baseline were comparable (plasma 4.57, SD 2.38, argon 4.34, SD 2.35). We did not find any significant differences in VAS reduction between plasma and argon: long-term VAS difference of 1.97 (SD 1.33) for plasma and 1.74 (SD 2.37) for argon [P = 0.224, 95% CI: (-0.15; 0.60)], short-term VAS difference of 1.92 (SD 1.33) for plasma and 1.97 (SD 1.29) for argon [P = 0.544, 95% CI: (-0.21; 0.11)]. In both groups, patients experienced a significant reduction of pruritus at the end of therapy compared to baseline [plasma 1.97 (P < 0.0001), placebo 1.74 [P < 0.0001)]. No relevant side effects occurred, and treatment was well tolerated., Conclusions: Treatment with cold plasma did not result in higher pruritus reduction than treatment with placebo. A significant reduction of pruritus compared to no effect was found at the end of therapy in both groups. Both treatment options had similar safety profiles., (© 2011 The Authors. Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology © 2011 European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology.)