Thesis

Development and characterisation of a non-thermal plasma source suitable for biological application, and its effects on mammalian cells, with a particular focus on fibroblasts and macrophage-like cells

Creator
Rights statement
Awarding institution
  • University of Strathclyde
Date of award
  • 2023
Thesis identifier
  • T16698
Person Identifier (Local)
  • 201764507
Qualification Level
Qualification Name
Department, School or Faculty
Abstract
  • Plasma medicine is the research field investigating the use of non-thermal plasmas (NTP) for medical treatment. NTP is already used clinically in areas such as the enhancement of wound healing. The motivation behind this work performed on this project was to further develop understanding of the biomedical effects of NTP, particularly those relating cells of the immune system. In this project, a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) NTP source, with a pin-plate style electrode arrangement, was designed to apply NTP to aqueous liquid which either contained in vitro mammalian cell samples(direct treatment), or which was later added to such samples (plasma-activated medium (PAM) treatment). During liquid exposure to NTP for 30 minutes in the designed device, concentrations of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and nitrite (NO2-), two key substances in plasma medicine, rose linearly to 5.2 mM and 13.0 mM respectively. These are within the range used for similar work in the literature. Testing on cells also showed that the designed device was capable of reducing viability with both directly and via PAM. Together, this chemical and biological data showed the suitability of the designed NTP source for use in plasma medicine research. The precision of the pin-plate DBD design style was also demonstrated.A range of dilutions of PAM from the device were applied to a pro-inflammatorymacrophage-like cell line, differentiated U937, and resulting in several novel findings.Sublethal PAM treatments did not influence phagocytic ability, nor the expression of twogenes related to antioxidants superoxide dismutase 1 and 2 (SOD1 and SOD2). The release of pro-inflammatory chemokines and other cytokines was altered however, and notably the overall cytokine profile was dependent upon the PAM dilution used. This raises the possibility of fine-tuning the inflammatory environment through NTP.
Advisor / supervisor
  • Grant, Mary
  • Wang, Tao
  • MacGregor, Scott
Resource Type
DOI

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