TNF-α Expression and New Epithelial Thickness in the Skin of Mice (Mus musculus) Infected MRSA by Medical Plasma Treatment

Abstract

Chronic wounds develop as a result of infection, commonly carried on by bacteria and form biofilms. MRSA is a kind of bacteria that can form biofilms. Recently, medical plasma technology has been applied to accelerate wound healing. The objective of the research was to investigate the response of cutaneous wounds in MRSA-infected animals to contact and non-contact therapy using medical plasma argon jet-type with histopathological and molecular approaches. Argon gas, with a purity of 99.995%, is utilized as a carrier gas for generating plasma medical at a flow rate of 1 standard liter per minute (slm). This experiment was divided into 4 treatment groups, K (infected wound without plasma treatment), CP (5 mm plasma treatment), NCP (20 mm plasma treatment), and CP-NCP (infected wound with 5 mm and 20 mm plasma combination treatment). The result of the observation obtained that contact plasma from day 3 to day 10 can remove bacterial biofilm and that non-contact plasma treatment from day 11 to day 16 is effective to accelerate wound healing. At day 17, the macroscopic biofilm area in the CP-NCP group began to decrease with an increasing percentage of re-epithelialization, and no necrotic cells were observed. TNF-α levels were observed significantly lower in the CP-NCP group at day 17 compared with other groups. In conclusion, contact-non-contact (CP-NCP) treatment is suggested for the management of chronic infections since it is beneficial for removing the bacterial biofilm layer and can promote wound healing.