An Osaka Metropolitan University-led research group is focused on plasma irradiation as a therapy option to accelerate bone repair.
The researchers used laboratory rats for their experiment. They are Kosuke Saito, a graduate student in the Graduate School of Medicine, Associate Professor Hiromitsu Toyoda, and Professor Hiroaki Nakamura, as well as Graduate School of Engineering Professor Jun-Seok Oh.
How did they test the plasma irradiation?
The researchers fractured the rodents’ legs in two ways. One group of 24 rats had typical fractures that were rather straightforward to repair. The other 20 rats suffered non-union fractures, which are those that do not heal or heal slowly.
Some were then bombarded with non-thermal atmospheric-pressure plasma, which had no meaningful benefit for the typical fracture group. However, it improved the healing and recovery time of the rats with non-union fractures. The irradiated non-union rats’ healed areas were likewise approximately 3.5 times stronger than the nonirradiated ones.
Furthermore, an in vitro investigation of pre-osteoblastic cells exposed to plasma for 5 to 15 seconds revealed an increase in the activity of a protein that indicates osteoblast differentiation. Showing that these bone-forming cells were maturing.
Professor Toyoda said,
Collaboration between the medical and engineering fields creates new medical technologies that have never before existed,
In the future, combining this treatment method with current fracture treatments is expected to contribute to more reliable bone fusion and shorter recovery times.
