Basic Study of Blood Coagulation by Microplasma

Plasma medicine is a field of research that focuses on the sterilization of bacteria, wounds and cancer treatment, tissue regeneration and other biomedical applications using plasma. Dielectric barrier discharge microplasma was used for biomedical applications such as sterilization of bacteria and skin treatment for transdermal drug delivery. In this study, we investigated the feasibility of using microplasma for improving blood coagulation parameters. Blood samples collected from one dog and one cat were treated with microplasma, and the blood coagulation effect of this treatment was compared with the effect achieved by treating the blood with air flow only. The microplasma electrodes were energized using a negative pulse voltage power supply and environmental air was used as discharge gas. The microplasma treatment produced clear coagulation effects that increased proportionally with treatment time, discharge voltage and frequency. In contrast, the treatment with air flow only had no coagulation effects after the same treatment time as for the microplasma treatment. The observed blood coagulation effects induced by microplasma treatment could be attributed to the reactive oxygen and nitrogen species generated by microplasma. The blood sample subjected to microplasma treatment had a slight temperature increase (≈4 °C) confirming the nonthermal operation. In conclusion, this study shows promising results that suggest the potential of using microplasma treatment as a tool for improving blood coagulation parameters. Furthermore, microplasma’s suitability for portability and integration indicates the potential for developing a compact microplasma device tailored for use by first responders in cases of bleeding.