Research on the inactivation effect of low-temperature plasma on Candida albicans

A dielectric barrier discharge was used to generate low-temperature plasma to treat Candida albicans. When the gap spacing was 3 mm, the killing log value (KLV) of the plasma on Candida albicans within 20 s of exposure was more than five, and for 4 and 5 mm gap spacing, the KLV within 25 s was more than five. With the extension of exposure time, the decrease in velocity of the number of living Candida albicans was fastest for the gap spacing of 3 mm, and then for 4 and 5 mm spacing. With 60 s of electric field treatment, as the applied voltage increases, the survival number of Candida albicans has no significant difference from that of the control sample. As for the inactivation mechanism of plasma on Candida albicans on the molecular microbiology side, transmission electron microscopic examination and the results of protein, nucleic acid and K⁺ detection in the extracellular environment showed that the plasma destroyed the outer structure of Candida albicans. Cytoplasm was also released, which caused Candida albicans to be dead. On the plasma physics side, the role of the electric field during Candida albicans inactivation by plasma is considered negligible. Therefore, charged particles and reactive species in plasma might play a dominant role in the process of destroying the outer structure of Candida albicans.