Biomolecule Response to Nonthermal Plasma

摘要

This work demonstrated the decomposition products of several amino acids when exposed to nonthermal atmospheric pressure plasma. A floating electrode dielectric barrier discharge plasma was used to treat 20 mM solutions of cysteine, glutamine, alanine, and lysine for varying treatment times to investigate possible mechanisms in cell wall degradation and treatment of tissue. The treated solutions were analyzed primarily using gas chroma-tography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The primary targets of the plasma treatment were found to be the sulfur or nitrogen species. Acetic acid and lactic acid were observed throughout all solutions as oxidative products from the plasma treatment. This work suggests that the primary targets for plasma treatment of cell wall components is the amino acids. Recently, thermal and nonthermal plasmas have been shown to have useful applications in agriculture. For example, it is generally recognized that plasmas affect plant growth, root stimulation, and microbial activation. Understanding the chemicals species generated from plasmas is required to fully develop their agricultural applications. Since cell medium consists of amino acids, glucose, vitamins, growth factors, and inorganic salts, it is important to understand what plasma treatment does to these molecules. This peptidoglycan layer is composed of amino acids and sugars in a polymeric network. Interference with the peptidoglycan layer can kill bacteria, as in the case with penicillin. It is assumed that the breakdown of biological molecules, such as amino acids, result in organic components that cause lipid peroxidation. Amino acid peroxides are one such species capable of causing lipid peroxidation when introduced to a lipid bilayer.