The effect of nitrogen plasma on the skin and hair follicles: a possible promising future for the treatment of alopecia

Nowadays, there is a great attention to the plasma applications in medicine.bNot only does coldatmosphericpressureplasma provide a therapeutic opportunity to control redox-basedprocesses, it is also aninnovativemethod in rejuvenation. Given the current interest in new methods of rejuvenation, we aimed to introduce a novel pulsednitrogenplasmatorch with potential use in rejuvenation. We investigated production of reactive species in different energies by spectroscopy and also measured nitricoxide and O2 concentration and evaluated the flametemperature. Fifteen Wistar rats were divided into three groups based on the applied energy settings; the skin of the animals was processed with plasma. For quantitative evaluation of dermis, epidermis and hair-follicles (to confirm the effects of this technique on rejuvenation), skin biopsies were taken from the unexposed and treated areas. The spectroscopy results showed the presence of nitricoxide in plasma and the concentration was suitable for dermatological applications. A significant increase was observed in the epidermal thickening, fibroblasts proliferation and collagenesis(P<0.05). Interestingly, plasma led to a temporary increase in the diameter of primary and secondary hair-follicles compared to the control. The results confirmed the positive effects of thispulsed nitrogen plasma torch on rejuvenation and also revealed a new possible aspect of cold plasma, its effect on hair follicles as a promising area in the treatment of alopecia that requires further clinical and molecular studies.