Anti-inflammatory effects of low temperature atmospheric plasma on acute pancreatitis induced by L-arginine in rats

Acute pancreatitis (AP), a sterile inflammation in local pancreas, is well-known as one of the most serious abdominal diseases. It could develop into a systemic inflammation if there is lack of instant supervision. Thus, it is important to find an effective method to solve this clinical challenge. The purpose of our work is to study the anti-inflammatory effect of low temperature atmospheric plasma (LTAP) on AP in vivo, and two treatment doses, namely, 30 s and 60 s, were used in our experiment. The optical emission spectroscopy assay proved that the LTAP produced by an arc discharge reactor contains reactive oxygen and nitrogen species. The histopathologic result showed that the LTAP treatment for 60 s can significantly mitigate AP as compared with the group treated for 30 s. Moreover, the quantity of inflammation cells treated by the LTAP treatment for 60 s and 30 s was markedly reduced, while the 60 s treatment displayed a better suppress effect on AP. Taken together, our study indicated that LTAP can be used as a promising strategy to alleviate AP.