title: Investigation of toxicity and mutagenicity of cold atmospheric argon plasma.
abstract: Cold atmospheric argon plasma is recognized as a new contact free approach for the decrease of bacterial load on chronic wounds in patients. So far very limited data are available on its toxicity and mutagenicity on eukaryotic cells. Thus, the toxic/mutagenic potential of cold atmospheric argon plasma using the MicroPlaSter β®, which has been used efficiently in humans treating chronic and acute wounds, was investigated using the XTT assay in keratinocytes and fibroblasts and the HGPRT (hypoxanthine guanine phosphoribosyl transferase) assay with V79 Chinese hamster cells. The tested clinical parameter of a 2 min cold atmospheric argon plasma treatment revealed no relevant toxicity on keratinocytes (viability: 76% ± 0.17%) and on fibroblasts (viability: 81.8 ± 0.10) after 72 hr as compared to the untreated controls. No mutagenicity was detected in the HGPRT assay with V79 cells even after repetitive CAP treatments of 2-10 min every 24 hr for up to 5 days. In contrast, UV-C irradiation of V79 cells, used as a positive control in the HGPRT test, led to DNA damage and mutagenic effects. Our findings indicate that cold atmospheric plasma using the MicroPlaSter β®shows negligible effects on keratinocytes and fibroblasts but no mutagenic potential in the HGPRT assay, indicating a new contact free safe technology. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. 58:172-177, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, University Hospital Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Maisch
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biochemistry, Emil-Fischer Zentrum, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuernberg, Germany.|Comprehensive Cancer Center Erlangen, CCC-ENM, Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany.
authors.forename: A K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Bosserhoff
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, University Hospital Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Unger
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, University Hospital Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Heider
authors.affiliation: Formerly Max-Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching, Germany.|Terraplasma GmbH, Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shimizu
authors.affiliation: Formerly Max-Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching, Germany.|Terraplasma GmbH, Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Zimmermann
authors.affiliation: Formerly Max-Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching, Germany.|Terraplasma GmbH, Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: G E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Morfill
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, University Hospital Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Landthaler
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, University Hospital Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Karrer
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001128:Argon / Q000633:toxicity*; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D006224:Cricetinae; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007041:Hypoxanthine Phosphoribosyltransferase / Q000235:genetics; D015603:Keratinocytes / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology; D009152:Mutagenicity Tests; D009153:Mutagens / Q000633:toxicity*; D058626:Plasma Gases / Q000633:toxicity*; D061251:Primary Cell Culture
chemical_list: D009153:Mutagens; D058626:Plasma Gases; D001128:Argon; D007041:Hypoxanthine Phosphoribosyltransferase
keywords: DNA damage; HGPRT; UVC; XTT; cold atmospheric plasma; mutagenicity