Role of oxygen in plasma induced chemical reactions in solution

Many researchers have paid attention to the studies on the interaction between non-thermal plasma and aqueous solutions for biomedical applications. The gas composition in the plasma is very important. Oxygen and nitrogen are the main gases of interest in biological applications. Especially, we focus on the oxygen concentration. In this experiment, we studied the role of oxygen concentration in plasma induced chemical reactions in solution. At first, the amount of ions are measured according to changing the oxygen concentration. And we checked the relationship between these ions and pH value. Secondly, when the oxygen concentration is changed, it identified the type and amount of radical generated by the plasma. In order to confirm the effect of these chemical property change to biological material, hemoglobin and RBCs are chosen. RBCs are one of the common basic biological cells. Thirdly, when plasma treated according to oxygen concentration in nitrogen feeding gas, oxidation of hemoglobin and RBC is checked. Finally, membrane oxidation of RBC is measured to examine the relation between hemoglobin oxidation and membrane damage through relative hemolysis and Young's modulus. Our results suggest that reactive species generated by the plasma differsdepending on the oxygen concentration changes. The pH values are decreased when oxygen concentration increased. OH decrease and NO increase are also observed. These reactive species makes change of chemical properties of solution. We also able to confirm that the difference in these reactive species to affect the oxidation of the Hb and RBCs. The Hb and RBCs are more oxidized with the high oxygen concentration conditions. But membrane is damaged more by plasma treatment with only nitrogen gas. It is shown that red blood cells membrane damage and oxidation of hemoglobin are not directly related.