Low-temperature plasmas for wound healing

Chronic wounds present a huge socio-economic burden both in the UK and globally, with 1-2% of the developed population expected to develop a chronic wound in their lifetime. New therapeutic strategies are being sought to improve wound healing, with the aim of accelerating the normal healing process to reduce the potential for concurrent wound infection. When considering wound healing therapies, it is desirable to have treatments that are capable of promoting the wound healing process, as well as reducing the bacterial load in the wound. By accelerating the healing process and reducing bacterial loads, the risk of concurrent wound infection is limited.

Low temperature plasmas (LTPs) present a potential novel wound treatment, showing promise in both animal and human trials. LTPs, containing a wide variety of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS), electric fields and charged particles, are attractive options as wound therapies due to the fact they are well documented to be able to efficiently kill bacteria, including those in biofilms. As well as this, they have been shown to be able to affect signaling pathways in host skin cells, including oxidative stress pathways, which are important for the physiological wound healing process. Through further investigation of the interactions occurring between LTP-produced species and biological targets relating to wound healing, it is hoped that LTPs could be optimised for a variety of wound healing applications.

At YPI, in collaboration with the Centre for Immunology & Infection (CII), Department of Biology, we are investigating plasmas for wound healing applications. At YPI, our Category 2 biological laboratory space allows us to conduct basic biological assays and treatments under the same environment as our diagnostic measurements. Additional capabilities for more advanced analysis, techniques and methodologies are available at the University of York's Department of Biology and the York Bioscience Technology Facility.

York collaborators:

Marjan van der Woude, Department of Biology

Victor Chechik , Department of Chemistry

Associated Publications

Spatial Dependence of DNA Damage in Bacteria due to Low-Temperature Plasma Application as Assessed at the Single Cell Level
A. Privat Maldonado, D. O'Connell, E. Welch, R. G. L. Vann, M. Van Der Woude
Scientific Reports 6, 35646 (2016)

Non-target Biomolecules Alter Macromolecular Changes Induced by Bactericidal Low-temperature Plasma
A. Privat Maldonado, Y. Gorbanev, D. O'Connell, R. G. L. Vann, V. Chechik, M. Van Der Woude
IEEE Transactions on Radiation and Plasma Medical Sciences, DOI: 10.1109/TRPMS.2017.2761405

Eradication of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilms by Atmospheric Pressure Non-Thermal Plasma
M. Y. Alkawareek, Q. T. Algwari, G. Laverty, S. P. Gorman, W. G. Graham, D. O'Connell, B. F. Gilmore
PLoS ONE 7(8) e44289 (2012)

Application of atmospheric pressure nonthermal plasma for the in vitro eradication of bacterial biofilms
M. Y. Alkawareek, Q. T. Algwari, G. Laverty, S. P. Gorman, W. G. Graham, D. O'Connell
FEMS immunology and medical microbiology 65, 381 (2012)