Suppression of scar formation in a murine burn wound model by the application of non-thermal plasma

Abstract

Suppression of hypertrophic scar generation in an animal model by treatment with plasma is reported. Contact burn following mechanical stretching was used to induce scar formation in mice. Exposure to the plasma tended to reduce the scar area more rapidly without affecting vitality. The treatment resulted in decreased vascularization in the scar tissue. Plasma-treated scars showed mild decrease in the thickness of hypertrophic tissues as shown by histological assessment. Finally, we showed that plasma treatment induced cell death and reactive oxygen species generation in hypertrophic scar fibroblast. All of the results support that plasma treatment can control scar generation. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3662040]