Fundamentals and New Directions in Plasma Medicine: Roles of Reactive Species

摘要

Reactive chemical species, including reactive oxygen and reactive nitrogen, are key to understanding the mechanisms by which plasmas act to modify biological systems. There is no doubt that plasmas operating in air at atmospheric pressure create bioactive species. These species are known to be important in normal physiological processes like signaling, but are also associated with many important diseases. Intriguingly, recent research has revealed that some therapies utilize these species, suggesting that plasmas may be effective for similar reasons. The challenges of utilizing plasmas for biomedical applications include controlling the distribution of reactive species created and controlling the reaction pathways and transport of reactive species products, especially lipids and proteins, to the places and at the concentrations that are needed to be most beneficial and least damaging.