Effects of low temperature atmospheric pressure plasma on cell viability and collagen synthesis of fibroblasts

Studies discovered that Low temperature plasma (LTP) could promote wound healing. However, the detailed mechanisms in the cellular and molecular levels are still not fully understood. In this study, an atmospheric pressure discharge plasma jet in flowing argon by means of dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) was used to treat murine fibroblasts cultured in vitro, in order to explore the molecular mechanism of cold plasma on cell viability and collagen synthesis. Experimental results showed that, compared with the control cells, the treatment of fibroblasts with 15 s of plasma led to a significant increase of cell viability and collagen synthesis, while the treatment of 25 s plasma resulted in a remarkable decrease. Exploration of related mechanisms suggested that cold plasma could up-regulate CyclinD1 gene expression and down-regulate p27 gene expression at a low dose, while it could down-regulate CyclinD1 expression and up-regulate p27 expression at a higher dose, thus altering the cell cycle progression, and then affecting cell viability and collagen synthesis of fibroblasts.