Nerve axonal extension enhancement using plasma activated medium generated through nonthermal atmospheric pressure plasma bubbling

In this study, we developed an axonal-extension enhancement bioreactor by using plasma activated medium (PAM) generated through a non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasma (NTAPP) bubbling system. Until now, many regeneration methods to treat damaged the central nervous system (CNS) have been proposed and examined, such as transplant of nerve cells. However, there still remain problems and it is strongly required to establish an efficacious regeneration method of the CNS. We focus on PAM, which has applied to wound treatment and the restraint of the brain edema. Usage of PAM produced by NTAPP has recently led to a research explosion in plasma treatment. We fabricated a cell culture system to enhance the axonal-extension for CNS regeneration. First, we made the plasma bubbling system to produce reactive species by NTAPP in the medium. We measured amount of the reactive species in PAM, H2O2, NO2 and NO3. Second, we confirmed the effect of PAM on PC12 by measuring the axonal extension length in 72 h culture after the PAM stimulation. Optimum condition to promote PC12 axonal-extension was found using the response surface method, which was the NTAPP bubbling time 18 s and the PAM stimulation time 3.9 h. We found that PAM exhibits selective cell activation property for chemotherapy of CNS.