On The Penetration Depth Of Reactive Oxygen And Nitrogen Species Generated By A Plasma Jet Through Real Biological Tissue

Abstract

In this work, an actual biological tissue is used to investigate how thick the RONS produced by a plasma jet can penetrate through the tissue. This is one of the most critical questions in plasma medicine. The concentration of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) (O₃, H₂O₂, OH, NO₂^-, NO₂^-+NO₃^-) produced by the plasma jet penetrating through different thickness of the tissue are measured. It is found that the reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced by the plasma are significantly consumed by the tissue. For the tissue thickness of 500μm, there is only about five percent or even less of the ROS (O₃, H₂O₂, and OH) penetrating through the tissue. On the other hand, more than eighty percent of the RNS (NO₂^-+NO₃^-) are able to penetrate through the 500μm biological tissue. Furthermore, under certain experiment conditions, some of the RONS can penetrate through 1.25mm of the biological tissue. Finally, besides H₂O₂, NO₂^- and NO₃^-, there is some other unknown RONS that penetrate through the biological tissue.