The antibacterial activity of gas discharge plasma has been studied for quiet some time. However, high biofilm inactivation activity of plasma was only recently reported. Studies indicate that the etching effect associated with plasmas generated represent an undesired effect, which may cause live bacteria relocation and thus contamination spreading. Meanwhile, the strong etching effects from these high power plasmas may also alter the surface chemistry and affect the biocompatibility of biomaterials. In this study, we examined the efficiency and effectiveness of low power gas discharge plasma for biofilm inactivation and removal. Among the three tested gases, oxygen, nitrogen, and argon, discharge oxygen demonstrated the best anti-biofilm activity because of its excellent ability in killing bacteria in biofilms and mild etching effects. Low power discharge oxygen completely killed and then removed the dead bacteria from attached surface but had negligible effects on the biocompatibility of materials. DNA left on the regenerated surface after removal of biofilms did not have any negative impact on tissue cell growth. On the contrary, dramatically increased growth was found for these cells seeded on regenerated surfaces. These results demonstrate the potential applications of low power discharge oxygen in biofilm treatments of biomaterials and indwelling device decontaminations.

中文翻译：

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低功率气体放电等离子体介导的生物材料上形成的生物膜的灭活和去除

气体放电等离子体的抗菌活性已经研究了一段时间。然而，最近才报道了血浆的高生物膜灭活活性。研究表明，与产生的等离子体相关的蚀刻效应代表了一种不希望的效应，这可能会导致活细菌重新定位，从而导致污染扩散。同时，这些高功率等离子体的强蚀刻作用也可能改变表面化学并影响生物材料的生物相容性。在这项研究中，我们研究了低功率气体放电等离子体对生物膜灭活和去除的效率和有效性。在三种测试气体中，氧气、氮气和氩气，放电氧气表现出最好的抗生物膜活性，因为它具有优异的杀灭生物膜中细菌的能力和温和的蚀刻效果。低功率放电氧气完全杀死并去除附着表面的死细菌，但对材料的生物相容性影响可忽略不计。去除生物膜后留在再生表面的 DNA 对组织细胞生长没有任何负面影响。相反，发现接种在再生表面上的这些细胞的生长显着增加。这些结果证明了低功率放电氧气在生物材料的生物膜处理和留置装置净化中的潜在应用。发现接种在再生表面上的这些细胞的生长显着增加。这些结果证明了低功率放电氧气在生物材料的生物膜处理和留置装置净化中的潜在应用。发现这些接种在再生表面上的细胞生长显着增加。这些结果证明了低功率放电氧气在生物材料的生物膜处理和留置装置净化中的潜在应用。