The safety of cold atmospheric plasma treatment on BALB/c mice

Objective: To evaluate the biological safety of cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) treatment on the dorsal skin of BALB/c mice. Methods: The dorsal skin of BALB/c mice was irradiated daily by three-minute CAP for two weeks. Both routine blood test and biochemical analysis were performed during this period. The indexes of internal organs were scored, followed by hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining of these tissues and dorsal skin. The ratios of sperm activity and deformity were also calculated. Results: After CAP treatment, the dorsal skin and H&E staining showed normal appearance. Compared with the controls, the mice in treatment group had the same weights and indexes of body and organs (P>0.05). Moreover, CAP did not affect the blood routine indexes or biochemical parameters (P>0.05). The two groups displayed similar optical and histological appearance of these internal organs. Furthermore, the two groups did not differ significantly in the ratios of sperm activity or deformity (P>0.05). Conclusion: CAP treatment has clinical safety by exhibiting neither routine toxicity on the skin and internal organs nor genotoxicity on male reproductive system of BALB/c mice.