Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Device Releasing Atomic Hydrogen: Experimental Study on Skin Cell Protective Effect

A novel atmospheric pressure plasma device releasing atomic hydrogen has been developed. This device has specific properties such as (1) deactivation of airborne microbial-contaminants and (2) neutralization of indoor OH radicals. In this paper, we have examined if the device has a skin cell protective effect against photo-generated reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the cell. We measured the levels of ROS (H
₂
O
₂
and O
₂
), apoptosis, MMP-1 and IL-6 in primary human dermal fibroblast before and after the UV radiation of 100mJ/cm
²
and in aged forearm dermal fibroblast. The cell protective effect of atomic hydrogen was examined by measuring these levels with and without the device operation. In the primary human dermal fibroblast, the cell protective effects were not observed against the UV radiation. However, in the aged forearm dermal fibroblast, it has been clearly observed that the levels of MMP-1 and IL-6 expression are decreased by the device operation.