Biomolecule Response to Nonthermal Plasma

Abstract

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 chromatography-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.