Targeting immune cells with cold plasma could speed healing and enhance surgical outcomes.
Cold plasma devices are increasingly used across surgical procedures, including skin rejuvenation, scar remodelling, liposuction and diabetic wounds.
A recent study from Thomas Jefferson University found that using an FDA-approved device enhances tissue healing post-surgery.
Senior author Theresa Freeman said: ‘Anecdotally, after receiving cold plasma treatment for dermatology procedures, patients have reported firmer and “younger” feeling skin in the treatment area.’
While several published reports support the idea that cold plasma could activate cellular healing, there was little evidence in living organisms.
This motivated Dr Freeman and her team to investigate what was occurring when injured muscle tissue was treated with a cold plasma device.
Carly Smith, a recently graduated doctoral student in Dr Freeman’s lab and first author on this study, said: ‘We found that cold plasma produces bursts of reactive species, which are molecules that can directly communicate with the immune cells and trigger them to start the healing process.’
Researchers treated rat surgical wounds with cold plasma, and within six hours, immune cells called neutrophils (the first responders of wound healing) increased in number and began repairing the wound. Cold plasma seemingly uses the natural wound-healing response to its advantage.
To understand how this spike in neutrophils could affect healing, the researchers compared cold plasma-treated to untreated rat muscle tissue at different time points.
Repairing injured muscle tissue involves replacing it with new muscle or fat.
Dr Freeman noted: ‘After six hours, plasma-treated tissue increased the expression of pathways and genes related to repairing and restoring muscle tissue. Fourteen days after treatment, plasma reduced fat accumulation in healing muscle tissue. This could explain why patients said their skin feels firmer after cold plasma treatment.’
In addition to promoting healing, cold plasma can kill bacteria.
In future studies, Dr Freeman hopes to combine cold plasma with standard-of-care antibiotics used in surgery to enhance healing and prevent infections.
She added: ‘If we can show this combined treatment is effective, it can be used by clinicians to improve surgical outcomes.’
