Department of Plastic Surgery, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, P.R. China.
Department of Plastic Surgery, The Fourth Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Yiwu, Zhejiang Province, P.R. China.
Sci Rep. 2020 Jan 23;10(1):1064. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-57703-6.
Non-thermal plasma (NTP) is a promising biomedical tool for application to wound healing. However, there is limited scientific evidence that confirms its efficacy to inhibit scar formation. This study aims to investigate the role of non-thermal plasma in scar formation. Two full-thickness dorsal cutaneous wounds of rats were treated with either a non-thermal helium plasma jet or helium. It was determined that the non-thermal plasma jet accelerated the wound healing process from 5 days after surgery (day 5: 41.27% ± 2.351 vs 54.7% ± 5.314, p < 0.05; day 7: 56.05% ± 1.881 vs 75.28% ± 3.914, p < 0.01; day 14: 89.85% ± 2.991 vs 98.07% ± 0.839, p < 0.05). The width of the scars for the NTP group was narrower than those of control group (4.607 ± 0.416 mm vs 3.260 ± 0.333 mm, p < 0.05). In addition, a lower level of TGF-β1, p-Smad2 and p-Smad3 were detected in the NTP treated wounds (p < 0.05, p < 0.01 and p < 0.01). As expected, α-SMA was also significantly decreased in the NTP treatment group (p < 0.01). Moreover, the expression of type I collagen and the proportion of type I to III collagen were lower in the NTP group (p < 0.05). The results of the study suggest that NTP may play a potential role in scar formation by inhibiting the TGF β1 signal pathway and reducing the levels of α-SMA and type I collagen, and may have clinical utility in the future.
非热等离子体（NTP）是一种有前途的生物医学工具，可用于伤口愈合。然而，目前科学证据有限，无法证实其抑制疤痕形成的功效。本研究旨在探讨非热等离子体在疤痕形成中的作用。使用非热氦等离子体射流或氦气处理大鼠的两个全层背部皮肤伤口。结果表明，非热等离子体射流加速了手术 5 天后的伤口愈合过程（第 5 天：41.27%±2.351 对 54.7%±5.314，p<0.05；第 7 天：56.05%±1.881 对 75.28%±3.914，p<0.01；第 14 天：89.85%±2.991 对 98.07%±0.839，p<0.05）。NTP 组的疤痕宽度比对照组更窄（4.607±0.416 毫米对 3.260±0.333 毫米，p<0.05）。此外，在 NTP 治疗的伤口中检测到较低水平的 TGF-β1、p-Smad2 和 p-Smad3（p<0.05，p<0.01 和 p<0.01）。如预期的那样，NTP 治疗组的α-SMA 也显著降低（p<0.01）。此外，NTP 组的 I 型胶原表达和 I 型胶原与 III 型胶原的比例较低（p<0.05）。研究结果表明，NTP 通过抑制 TGFβ1 信号通路以及降低α-SMA 和 I 型胶原水平，可能在疤痕形成中发挥潜在作用，并可能在未来具有临床应用价值。
