Utility of Reactive Species Generation in Plasma Medicine for Neuronal Development

Abstract

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are critical signaling molecules for neuronal physiology that stimulate growth and development and play vital roles in several pathways when in a balanced state, but they cause neurodegeneration when unbalanced. As ROS levels above a certain threshold cause the activation of the autophagy system, moderate levels of ROS can be used as treatment strategies. Currently, such treatments are used together with low-level laser or photodynamic therapies, photo-bio modulation, or infrared treatments, in different chronic diseases but not in the treatment of neurodegeneration. Recently, non-thermal plasma has been successfully used in biomedical applications and treatments, and beneficial effects such as differentiation, cell growth, and proliferation, stimulation of ROS based pathways have been observed. Besides the activation of a wide range of biological signaling pathways by generating ROS, plasma application can be an effective treatment in neuronal regeneration, as well as in neuronal diseases. In this review, we summarize the generation and role of ROS in neurons and provide critical insights into their potential benefits on neurons. We also discuss the underlying mechanisms of ROS on neuronal development. Regarding clinical applications, we focus on ROS-based neuronal growth and regeneration strategies and in the usage of non-thermal plasma in neuronal and CNS injury treatments.

Toward defining plasma treatment dose: The role of plasma treatment energy of pulsed‐dielectric barrier discharge in dictating in vitro biological responses

“…Non-equilibrium, atmospheric pressure plasma technologies are continually being investigated for biomedical applications, including hemostasis, [1,2] wound healing, [3,4] dentistry, [5] surface sterilization, [6] neuroregeneration, [7,8] and cancer therapy. [9][10][11] These technologies are commonly referred to as cold atmospheric plasma or non-thermal plasma (NTP) in the biomedical and clinical fields.…”

Inhalation of Atmospheric-Pressure Gas Plasma Attenuates Brain Infarction in Rats With Experimental Ischemic Stroke

“…Previous studies have verified the neuroprotective effect of APPJ treatment in vitro ( Mitra et al, 2020 ; Yan et al, 2020 ; Tian et al, 2021 ). However, whether the neuroprotective properties of plasmas were beneficial for the ischemic stroke treatment, and how to use the plasmas in animal models of ischemic stroke have not been clearly demonstrated.…”

Application of an atmospheric pressure plasma jet in a rat model of ischaemic stroke: Design, optimisation, and characteristics

“…The neuroprotective effect of the plasma treatment has been proven in vitro [27][28][29]. However, how to use the plasma in an in vivo neuro-injury model, and translate into the real-world clinical disease treatment remains unknown.…”