Does non-thermal plasma modify biopolymers in solution? A chemical and mechanistic study for alginate

Abstract

In the last decades, non-thermal plasma has been extensively investigated as a relevant tool for various biomedical applications, ranging from tissue decontamination to regeneration and from skin treatment to tumor...

Injectable Plasma‐Treated Alginate Hydrogel for Oxidative Stress Delivery to Induce Immunogenic Cell Death in Osteosarcoma

“…A recent publication provides a mechanistic insight supported by computational and experimental data on how plasma may be interacting with alginate to introduce different chemical modifications. [ 22 ] In their study, the authors report the possible formation of different organic peroxides and intermediate products as the result of plasma oxidation of alginate. Nevertheless, it is a different research question to which extent these chemical modifications have a biological effect.…”

“…Related to this, 1‐min treatment time may also be too short for biologically relevant oxidations to occur or accumulate in alginate. [ 22 ] It would be interesting to explore in the future if higher plasma treatment times lead to alginate PTHs with more pronounced (and non‐H 2 O 2 ‐mediated) biological effects.…”

“…[ 21 ] Thanks to the rich chemistry of polymers and the reactive chemical groups, their presence could contribute to plasma chemistry. [ 22 ] For example, treatment of an amino‐acid based polymer with plasma favored generation of reactive nitrogen species. [ 23 ] In addition, compared to liquids, hydrogels are more viscous and show good retention of material at the site of injection or implantation.…”

Plasma‐treated liquids in medicine: Let's get chemical

“…[25,26] Experiments performed in polysaccharides (alginate, methylcellulose) and proteins (albumin, gelatin, lysozyme, RNase, and superoxide dismutase) solutions showed that direct plasma treatment is able to fragment and to oxidize, to a different extent, the biopolymers, affecting their functionality, and generating intermediates with different reactivity. [14,[27][28][29][30] Finally, a direct plasma treatment of biopolymer solutions leads to the enhancement of long-lived species (H 2 O 2 and NO 2 − ) in solution, likely proceeding through the generation of organic peroxides and/or by involving transient RONS like O and HO radicals. [29,31] Ultimately, organic-containing solutions may expectedly contain the most diverse range of biologically relevant species: organic biologically relevant molecules and the whole range of inorganic RONS as described for the two previous types of aqueous systems.…”

“…[14,[27][28][29][30] Finally, a direct plasma treatment of biopolymer solutions leads to the enhancement of long-lived species (H 2 O 2 and NO 2 − ) in solution, likely proceeding through the generation of organic peroxides and/or by involving transient RONS like O and HO radicals. [29,31] Ultimately, organic-containing solutions may expectedly contain the most diverse range of biologically relevant species: organic biologically relevant molecules and the whole range of inorganic RONS as described for the two previous types of aqueous systems.…”