UNASSIGNED: This study aimed to investigate the antibacterial effects of plasma-activated saline (PAS) on My-cobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb).
UNASSIGNED: We conducted a growth assay on 3 strains of Mtb and an antibiotic sensitivity test on 4 strains of Mtb. Both tests included groups treated with normal saline (NS), PAS, and hydrochloric acid (HCl). The test of antibiotic sensitivity consisted of parallel tests with two concentrations of bacteria suspension: 10-2 and 10-4. The selected antibiotics were rifampicin (RIF), isoniazid (INH), ethambutol (EMB), and streptomycin (SM). The number of bacteria was determined after one month of culture under different conditions. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to analyze the differences in grouping factors at representative time points.
UNASSIGNED: The growth assay indicated that PAS significantly inhibited the growth of 3 strains of Mtb compared with NS and HCl treatment groups. Furthermore, except for the initial observation time point, the remaining three observation time points consistently demonstrate no significant differences between the NS group and the HCl group. The antibiotic sensitivity test of INH, SM, and RIF indicated that PAS could inhibit the growth of antibiotic-resistant Mtb, and the antibiotic sensitivity test of INH and SM with bacterial suspension concentration of 10-2 and SM with bacterial suspension concentration of 10-4 showed statistically different results. The antibiotic sensitivity test of EMB indicated that the growth of Mtb in PAS was slower than that in NS and HCl in both antibiotic-resistant and sensitive Mtb, but there was no statistical difference.
UNASSIGNED: The study indicates that PAS contains a significant amount of active substances and exhibits high oxidizability and an acidic pH state. The unique physicochemical properties of PAS significantly delayed the growth of Mtb, compared to the NS and the HCl. PAS not only inhibited the growth of drug-sensitive strains but also significantly enhanced the sensitivity of drug-resistant strains to anti-tuberculosis drugs, which may provide a new therapeutic strategy for the treatment of tuberculosis.

Systemic infections caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) are life-threatening due to their strong multidrug resistance, especially since the biofilms formed by MRSA are more difficult to inactivate by antibiotics, causing long term recurrence of infection. Plasma-activated saline (PAS), a derived form of cold atmospheric-pressure plasma, can effectively inactivate bacteria and cancer cells and has been applied to sterilization and cancer treatment. Previous studies have demonstrated that the pretreatment of MRSA with PAS could promote the action of antibiotics. Here, the PAS was used as an antibiotic adjuvant to promote the inactivation of MRSA biofilms by rifampicin and vancomycin, and the combined treatment reduced approximately 6.0-log10 MRSA cells in biofilms. The plasma-activated saline and rifampicin synergistically and effectively reduced the systemic infection in the murine model. The histochemical analysis and the blood hematological and biochemical test demonstrated that the combined treatment with plasma-activated saline and rifampicin improved the blood hematological and biochemical parameters of infected mice by reducing the infection. Therefore, PAS based on plasma technology represents a new strategy for the treatment of infectious disease caused by multidrug-resistant bacteria and alleviating antibiotic resistance.

Muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) is a fast-growing and aggressive malignant tumor in urinary system. Since chemotherapy and immunotherapy are only useable with a few MIBC patients, the clinical treatment of MIBC still faces challenges. Here, we examined the feasibility of plasma-activated saline (PAS) as a fledgling therapeutic strategy for MIBC treatment. Our data showed that plasma irradiation could generate a variety of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) in saline. In vivo tests revealed that pericarcinomatous tissue injection with PAS was effective at preventing subcutaneous bladder tumor growth, with no side effects to the visceral organs after long-term administration, as well as having no obvious influence on the various biochemistry indices of the blood in mice. The in vitro studies indicated that adding 30% PAS in cell culture media causes oxidative damage to the bladder transitional cells T24 and J82 through enhancing the intracellular ROS level, and eventually induces cancer cells\' apoptosis by activating the ROS-mediated Fas/CD95 pathway. Therefore, for an intracavity tumor, these initial observations suggest that the soaking of the tumor tissue with PAS by intravesical perfusion may be a novel treatment option for bladder cancer.