An investigation of the effectiveness of atmospheric pressure cold plasma on sciatic nerve injury in rats.

BACKGROUND

The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of atmospheric pressure cold plasma jet and plasma activated medium (PAM) on sciatic nerve injury (SNI).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Rats were divided into 6 groups (n = 10); group 1 (sham), group 2 (SNI), group 3 (SNI + atmospheric pressure cold plasma jet 5 min), group 4 (SNI + atmospheric pressure cold plasma jet 10 min), group 5 (SNI + PAM 5 min), and group 6 (SNI + PAM 10 min). On days 1, 8, 15, and 22 of the study, atmospheric pressure cold plasma jet was applied to rats in groups 3 and 4, and PAM was applied to rats in groups 5 and 6. A hot plate test was applied to all rats on the same days. On day 28, the experiment was terminated, and sciatic nerve tissues were removed for histopathological evaluation.

RESULTS

According to the 4-week average of the hot plate tests, a significant relationship was found between group 2 and group 4 and group 6 (p < 0.05). When evaluated within each week, significant differences were found between group 2 and group 4 in week 1, between group 2 and group 5 and group 6 in week 2, between group 2 and group 4 in week 3, and between group 2 and group 4 and group 6 in week 4 (p < 0.05). As a result of histopathological analysis, except for the control group, the other groups had similar characteristics in terms of axonal degeneration, periaxonal swelling, and axon density.

CONCLUSIONS

As a result of our study, we found that plasma application showed an improvement in the duration of the hot plate test but did not show any improvement histopathologically.