Antibacterial efficacy of combined atmospheric cold plasma and hydrogen peroxide treatment on a wound surrogate

TY - JOUR

T1 - Antibacterial efficacy of combined atmospheric cold plasma and hydrogen peroxide treatment on a wound surrogate

AU - Patel, Praj K.

AU - Mishra, Preisha

AU - Ashour, Habiba K.

AU - Mandar, Neil R.

AU - Mbarki, Safa

AU - Mao, Yong

AU - Kumar, Suneel

AU - Berthiaume, Francois

AU - Mazzeo, Aaron D.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2025 The Authors

PY - 2025/12

Y1 - 2025/12

N2 - This study aims to understand the potential combined effects of treating wound-like tissue surfaces with cold plasma (CP) and hydrogen peroxide. We assess how CP treatment generated by a surface dielectric barrier discharge (SDBD) device achieves bacterial inactivation on two test surfaces: agar plates, representing a surface with uniform topology, and muscle tissue from a thin-sliced chicken breast, representing a non-uniform topology mimicking a wound-like surface. A 10-min CP treatment inactivates Escherichia coli (E. coli) with up to 7 log reduction in colony-forming units (CFU) on a smooth agar surface; however, on chicken breast, the same treatment yields a 0.88 log reduction. By comparison, the common antiseptic H2O2 (3 %) yields a 1.06 log CFU reduction on chicken breast after 10 min of treatment. Simultaneous treatment with CP and H2O2 increases E. coli inactivation to 1.69 log CFU. Bacterial inactivation is less efficient on the chicken tissue than on smooth agar surfaces. Furthermore, the CP-H2O2 combination significantly improves bacterial inactivation, which can be further enhanced by extending treatment time. This work demonstrates an approach to evaluating the efficacy of combining CP with liquid antimicrobial treatments on an accessible wound surrogate with complex morphology and biochemistry. This approach has the potential to serve as a fast method to screen candidate treatments before performing animal studies.

AB - This study aims to understand the potential combined effects of treating wound-like tissue surfaces with cold plasma (CP) and hydrogen peroxide. We assess how CP treatment generated by a surface dielectric barrier discharge (SDBD) device achieves bacterial inactivation on two test surfaces: agar plates, representing a surface with uniform topology, and muscle tissue from a thin-sliced chicken breast, representing a non-uniform topology mimicking a wound-like surface. A 10-min CP treatment inactivates Escherichia coli (E. coli) with up to 7 log reduction in colony-forming units (CFU) on a smooth agar surface; however, on chicken breast, the same treatment yields a 0.88 log reduction. By comparison, the common antiseptic H2O2 (3 %) yields a 1.06 log CFU reduction on chicken breast after 10 min of treatment. Simultaneous treatment with CP and H2O2 increases E. coli inactivation to 1.69 log CFU. Bacterial inactivation is less efficient on the chicken tissue than on smooth agar surfaces. Furthermore, the CP-H2O2 combination significantly improves bacterial inactivation, which can be further enhanced by extending treatment time. This work demonstrates an approach to evaluating the efficacy of combining CP with liquid antimicrobial treatments on an accessible wound surrogate with complex morphology and biochemistry. This approach has the potential to serve as a fast method to screen candidate treatments before performing animal studies.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105017680569

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105017680569#tab=citedBy

U2 - 10.1016/j.bbrep.2025.102296

DO - 10.1016/j.bbrep.2025.102296

M3 - Article

SN - 2405-5808

VL - 44

JO - Biochemistry and Biophysics Reports

JF - Biochemistry and Biophysics Reports

M1 - 102296

ER -