Effects of Low Temperature Plasmas on Proteins

When operated in an environment containing oxygen and nitrogen low temperature atmospheric pressure plasmas generate copious amounts of reactive oxygen species and reactive nitrogen species. These species can be transported to react with biological matter and induce cellular effects ranging from inactivation to proliferation, depending on the operating conditions. Although much work has been done on the cellular level (prokaryotes and eukaryotes), very little and mostly preliminary experiments were carried out on biomolecules, such as proteins. Proteins, which are chains of amino acids, are involved in almost all cellular functions. Therefore it is crucial to elucidate the effect of plasma on proteins and their structures. Here, some of the few investigations done on this subject are briefly reviewed. Only few select proteins have been investigated so far and the understanding of the biochemistry induced by plasma on the molecular level remains quite limited.