It is recognized that the properties of liquid water can be markedly different from those of bulk one when it is in contact with hydrophobic surfaces or is confined in nano-environments. Because our knowledge regarding water structure on the molecular level of dynamic equilibrium within a picosecond time scale is far from completeness all of water's conventionally known properties are based on inert "bulk liquid water" with a tetrahedral hydrogen-bonded structure. Actually, the strength of water's hydrogen bonds (HBs) decides its properties and activities. In this review, an innovative idea on preparation of metastable plasmon-activated water (PAW) with intrinsically reduced HBs, by letting deionized (DI) water flow through gold-supported nanoparticles (AuNPs) under resonant illumination at room temperature, is reported. Compared to DI water, the created stable PAW can scavenge free hydroxyl and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radicals and effectively reduce NO release from lipopolysaccharide-induced inflammatory cells. Moreover, PAW can dramatically induce a major antioxidative Nrf2 gene in human gingival fibroblasts. This further confirms its cellular antioxidative and anti-inflammatory properties. In addition, innovatively therapeutic strategy of daily drinking PAW on inflammatory-related diseases based on animal disease models is demonstrated, examples being chronic kidney disease (CKD), chronic sleep deprivation (CSD), and lung cancer.
Keywords: animal disease model; anti-inflammatory; gold nanoparticles; medicine; plasmon-activated water.