DNA Strand Breaks and Denaturation as Probes of Chemical Reactivity versus Thermal Effects of Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Jets

Amal Sebastian; Daniel Lipa; Sylwia Ptasinska

doi:10.1021/acsomega.2c07262

DNA Strand Breaks and Denaturation as Probes of Chemical Reactivity versus Thermal Effects of Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Jets

ACS Omega. 2022 Dec 29;8(1):1663-1670. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.2c07262. eCollection 2023 Jan 10.

Authors

Amal Sebastian^{1

2}, Daniel Lipa^{1

3}, Sylwia Ptasinska^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Radiation Laboratory, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, United States.
² Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, United States.
³ Department of Applied and Computational Mathematics and Statistics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, United States.

Abstract

An atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) is being advanced as an alternative radiation type that offers excellent efficacy in an array of medical applications against specific biological targets such as DNA. This work explores the possibility of implementing DNA and its damage as a probe for specific plasma diagnostics such as reactive plasma species formation and transient local heating. We analyzed both APPJ characteristics based on the detection of plasma-induced strand breaks and DNA denaturation. Further, we implemented a machine learning model based on artificial neural networks to predict the type and extent of DNA damage for a given combination of APPJ parameter values. This methodology is an important step toward deciphering and explaining the potential adverse effects of APPJ on biological samples of any prospective interest in medicine.