Control of Polymicrobial Biofilms: Recent Trends - Antibiofilm Agents: From Diagnosis to Treatment and Prevention - page 334

Fig. 3 ( a ) Generation of
nonthermal plasma. ( b )
Photograph showing a zone
of inhibition on a plate of
Staphylococcus aureus after
treatment with non-thermal
plasma for approximately
45 seconds. Images
courtesy of Mr. Luke
Raymond and Miss Ella
Dolan, University of
Michigan
reactive particles that are produced during the ionization of gas including free
radicals, UV radiation, and reactive oxygen species (Ehlbeck et al. 2011 ).
Alkawareek et al. suggest that given all the possible cytotoxic products produced
by plasma, it is difficult to ascertain whether cell death is derived from a combined
effect or individual products of the plasma generation process (Shimizu et al. 2008 ;
Alkawareek et al. 2012 ). In the second process, the biofilm is removed through
plasma exposure in a process called “etching” and is a direct result of the binding of
reactive species to outer parts of the cells and subsequent destabilization of the
biofilm through cellular de-adhesion (Moisan et al. 2002 ). Low-powered and high-
powered nonthermal plasma both seem to have this ability, but there are advantages